


Younger Days: Spring Time

by MBIII



Series: Days Past [6]
Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: Action/Adventure, Boarding School, Canon Compliant, Humor, Multi, Romance, Science Fiction, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-03-29 11:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 67,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19018903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MBIII/pseuds/MBIII
Summary: Kaden's feelings are torn. His time on Sargasso has given him a new perspective on his hated enemy, causing the young Lombax to begrudgingly gain a sense of respect for the mysterious warrior student. That was, until a reminder of why he hated the guy in the first place hit him like an armor-plated fist.As Kaden struggles to sort out his odd relationship with Kor, his strained relationship with Sorana begins to take on new turns. He soon finds out, however, that he's not the only one with the Red Reaper of Nova on their mind and if he's not careful, he may very well get caught in the crossfire.





	1. A Girl Back Home

Sorana checked the time on her digi-pad yet again, as she sat waiting in the academy's main starport, located in the Military Field. Kaden's shuttle was due to arrive any minute now and she was beginning to get nervous.

She hadn't spoken to Kaden since before the Capture the Depot match and she never did manage to work up the courage to visit him in the hospital. She hadn’t even found out about his mission to Sargasso until after he’d already left. She still felt awful about the whole thing and was terrified of the idea that one of her closest friends might be upset with her as a result.

Still, she was determined to see him now and to put things right. Even if Kaden was angry with her, she would simply explain her reasons. If that failed, then she would just remind him of all the times he'd screwed up. After all, as amazing as he was, he was still just a lombax. He definitely wasn't unbeatable and he clearly wasn't unkillable.

' _He wasn't untouchable…'_

A static-filled, robot voice rang out over the local intercom, breaking Sorana from her thoughts, "Science Field Shuttle, 319 inbound," it stated dully.

She immediately recognized the designation of Kaden's shuttle, as she'd been going over it in her head repeatedly for what was likely an hour by now.

Sorana stood up from the starport waiting chair in which she'd been sitting and quickly straightened out her dress, before turning to watch the distant speck that was shuttle 319 make its way toward the stardock on bright blue cones of plasma.

The small craft approached swiftly, too fast almost, and despite herself, Sorana's pulse began to quicken. She watched intently as the maneuvering jets of the shuttle cut out and the large hulk of metal fell into its mooring restraints.

Just a few seconds later, the rear disembarkation-ramp on the ship cracked open and slowly began lowering itself onto the floor.

Sorana took a deep breath as it did and fought to keep calm. She reminded herself that her nerves were only frayed because of her own unnecessary thoughts. It was obvious, even to her, that Kaden wouldn't take something like ‘not visiting him in the hospital’ personally.

She tried to shake the thoughts out again, but they clung stubbornly to her psyche.

Sorana had reflected a great deal on her relationship with Kaden recently, in the wake of the CtD fight. All sorts of thoughts and ideas had come and gone over the past several days, while others had stuck like glue and refused to be discarded. At this point, she was worried that she wouldn't even be able to look him in the eye without a surge of these thoughts coming forth and showing on her face.

She had told herself that she was being ridiculous. That all she was doing at the Starport was meeting up with a friend that she'd known since she was in primary school, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow more than that… to her at least.

' _No!'_ she thought angrily, interrupting her previous line of thought and shaking her head yet again.

She had already made her decision in the aftermath of her visit to the medical facility. She had made up her mind that there simply couldn’t be anything more between Kaden and herself, other than the friendship they already shared.

_‘Regardless if either of them wanted it.’_

Sorana set her jaw and forcefully pushed away the unbidden thought. Her one and only concern now was to ensure that said friendship stayed intact and nothing more.

Reaffirmed in her belief, the white-furred Lombax waited patiently for Kaden to exit the shuttle. But, as the seconds began to tick by, far longer than they should have, she began to feel anxious again.

After what seemed like an agonizingly long moment, Sorana realized that she had literally been waiting with bated breath for Kaden to emerge.

Following proper etiquette, she casually looked downward, before covering her mouth with her hand. Suppressing the urge to inhale loudly, she carefully refilled her lungs with air, before once again chiding herself for her foolishness.

' _He hasn't even come out yet and I'm already a mess,'_ she thought despondently.

Again she felt the strong urge to leave and put this whole reunion off for another day, but she had come this far and she refused to back down now.

Still though, she wondered what could be taking the occupants so long to disembark from the shuttle and she lifted her head back up, returning her gaze to the vehicle's exit ramp.

Sorana’s newly regained breath was immediately caught in her throat as her eyes fell upon the completely expected, yet somehow still surprising, figure of a tan-furred Lombax strolling casually down the shuttle's walkway. The boy had his backpack slung familiarly over one shoulder and his eyes swept the area before him, meticulously, as if looking for something… or someone.

Caught completely off guard by the very thing she'd waited nearly an hour for, Sorana looked around frantically, until she spotted a nearby support pillar.

A fraction of a second later, she had moved behind the structure, blocking herself off entirely from Kaden's view.

Sorana blinked several times, with her back to the column, as common sense slowly reworked its way into her mind, _'What was she doing?'_ she questioned herself, dumbfounded by her own actions.

Her heart was now slamming into her ribcage. Whether it was from nervousness or the adrenaline rush that had somehow teleported her to her current hiding spot, she didn't know. What she ‘did’ know was that she couldn't take much more of this

She needed to pull herself together and face Kaden now or else she wouldn't even be able to talk to him face to face, let alone continue their friendship.

With one last deep breath, Sorana set her jaw rigidly with determination and stepped out from behind the pillar.

She immediately spotted Kaden again, but this time her childhood friend had his face glued to his digi-pad, seemingly without having found what he'd been looking for.

Sorana began to take another step forward, paying close attention to her breathing and measuring her pace.

But then Kaden looked up from his device and his eyes seemed to hone onto her like radar.

Again Sorana froze, like a dromax caught in headlights. Her legs locked up as she fought against their urge to move behind the pillar again, but she held resolute this time.

As she debated what to do, a wide, cheerful smile split the distant Kaden's face and a moment later and the young Lombax began waving his hand at her eagerly. This was yet another heart-jarring surprise for Sorana.

In an instant, a large part of her mind was flooded with relief. It appeared that Kaden had not been upset with her after all, leaving the rest of her mind to freeze up as it desperately searched for how she should react.

' _Wave back, stupid!'_ she shouted internally.

With all the stiffness of a primary education science-fair robot, Sorana raised her hand in the air and moved it back and forth.

It took less than a second for her face to burn in embarrassment when she imagined what the awkward display of muscle spasms must have looked like from Kaden's perspective.

Thankfully… kind of… Kaden hadn't been able to see Sorana's awkward gesture. His attention had instead been taken off of her by a large, red-armored Lombax that had tapped him on the shoulder.

Sorana recognized the figure as Kor Vol'terran, whom she'd known had been paired with Kaden on his recent mission. She wondered how she had missed such a sore-thumb figure approaching her friend until this moment.

All at once the fears that had plagued her for the past several days sprang back to the front of her mind. The fear for Kaden’s safety that stemmed not just from the dangerous mission he had embarked on, but of him doing so while paired with the person who had nearly killed him, indirectly causing much of Sorana's recent torment.

Those fears… were swiftly justified as, in the next moment, she witnessed her dear friend flying backwards through the air, before crashing to the ground with a clatter.

Sorana blinked her eyes hard and opened them again as she processed what had just happened.

Kor's attack had struck so quickly that the white-furred Lombax had blinked at the wrong time and missed it entirely, but judging by the outstretched armored fist that still hung in the air where Kaden's head had been a moment ago, it wasn't hard to figure out.

Sorana was dumbstruck by what she'd just witnessed, but her instincts took over this time and she slowly began moving toward Kaden, reflexively pushing on to see if he was alright.

However, before she could get more than a few steps, she was shoved sideways by a tan-furred girl who had been standing behind her, saw what had happened, and was eager to get a better look.

This inconsiderate individual wasn't the only one either. Within seconds, a throng of onlookers began surrounding the two Lombaxes who it seemed were apparently fighting.

Recovering from being shoved, Sorana moved swiftly toward the growing crowd. Then, in a very un-Sorana-ish manner, she pushed her way roughly through the wall of bodies until she’d managed to make it to their center.

She arrived just in time to watch Kor crush what appeared to be a digi-pad into powder with his armored hand.

Sorana's eyes grew wide as she realized that the device had obviously been Kaden's and she turned her concern filled gaze over to where her friend lay on the floor, looking up in a daze at his assailant.

Something strange, yet uncomfortably familiar seemed to squeeze Sorana's heart as she watched her childhood friend visibly shake with anger.

"I'm... Going... To kill you!" he hissed, in a voice that Sorana didn’t recognize at first.

The next few seconds passed by in a haze to Sorana as her mind was taken over by the shadows of Kaden and Kor's last encounter in the Depot, which danced over her thoughts. She stood motionless, expecting to see a replay of those events, not even registering the few metallic words that Kor spoke, before he left without another.

Several seconds after that, Sorana let out a long breath of relief and touched her hand to her chest, as if doing so could physically calm her shaking heart.

Assuring herself that there would be no further violence, she quickly looked around to get her bearings and relocate Kaden.

However, as if to put a bright red cherry on the top of the rattled Lombax's mint-shocklet chip sundae, she gazed over only to find that Kaden was already being helped up, by the tan-furred Lombax who had shoved her earlier.

The tall female smiled down at Kaden, offering him her hand.

Kaden scowled slightly at the gesture, but took it anyway and pulled himself up.

The crowd was beginning to disperse now and the spectators who had made it up departed every which way, blocking Sorana's view for a moment.

It took some tight maneuvering through the throng of chatting Lombaxes and robots, but, after a few moments, she finally found Kaden again. To her great surprise, though, both he and the girl who had helped him up were now walking off in the opposite direction.

It was at that moment that it dawned on Sorana that Kaden hadn't spotted her earlier at all and that, just before getting sucker punched by Kor, he had been waving to this girl who had been nearby instead.

Somewhere in the back of Sorana's mind, she knew she should have been relieved to see Kaden appear relatively uninjured after such a brutal attack, but the vast majority of her mind could only think, _'Who is this girl?!'_

It was miraculous enough to see Kaden getting along with another living person in of itself, but, from the way this unknown woman was attempting to prod the bruised side of the injured Lombax’s face, before having her hand swatted away, and how she was talking as if on the verge of open laughter at Kaden's predicament, it was clear that they were more than just acquaintances.

For some reason, this bothered Sorana. Probably because it was simply so unusual to see Kaden act friendly with another person… she told herself.

The next thing Sorana knew, she was following the two of them. She kept herself out of sight, but never completely let them leave hers.

They only walked for a few minutes, though, before Sorana, while hiding behind an information kiosk, heard Kaden say, "Before that, I got to get something to eat. Living on military rations and Kerchu cooking for nearly a week probably did more damage than the Wigwump."

' _Wigwump?'_ Sorana wondered as she poked her head out again and watched her targets veer off into a nearby food court area. Stealthily, she followed their footsteps.

The location they'd entered was a small break spot, only containing a few dozen tables, half of which were occupied, and consisted entirely of automated ordering and serving machines.

Sorana curled her lip in thought. The court was small and open. She would be spotted easily if she simply continued on.

Very carefully, the white-furred Lombax made her way to the edge of the eating area and held back just before entering. She tried to act casual as she surveyed the area, until she spotted her quarry. The two of them had finished giving their orders, received their food from the dispenser, and were just now taking a seat.

Sorana walked the long way around the edge of the court and stopped at a random stand that wasn't directly in Kaden's line of sight. Not wanting to look too suspicious, she ordered a drink.

With her beverage in hand, she tried to move closer to Kaden and the woman as covertly as possible.

Sorana eventually chose a seat that had a good view of the two Lombaxes, but was squarely behind Kaden's head. However, she wasn't close enough to easily make out what the two of them were saying.

Unwilling to risk getting closer, she resigned herself to her current position and tried to get a judge on their relationship.

Kaden and the girl then spent the next several minutes talking animatedly, sometimes smiling and laughing while swinging half-eaten pieces of sandwich in their hands for emphasis.

Other times, however, the two of them seemed to stumble onto a topic that was serious and their expressions would suddenly become intense as they debated something deeply, but never getting to the point of arguing.

The more Sorana watched the two interact, the more uneasy she began to feel, though she did not know why. For a completely unrelated reason, she tried hard to remember the last time she'd seen Kaden so intensely focused on a conversation with her, or anyone else for that matter.

Without realizing it, she had begun scowling at the two of them.

* * *

Finally, after nearly half-an-hour of observing from a distance, Sorana could take no more. Her mind was now filled to the breaking point with desperate curiosity at what the two of them could possibly be talking about so intently.

Pushing her greater caution aside, the frustrated Lombax stood up from her seat and began searching for a new table within clear earshot of her targets.

After several subtle glances and a controlled walk around, she realized that the only available seat that met her needs was just on the edge of Kaden's peripheral vision. She had no choice, she would have to risk discovery to reach it.

As Sorana casually approached the seat, she noticed from the corner of her eye that her childhood friend appeared to be deep in thought about what he was going to respond with and was completely unaware of his surroundings at the moment. He paid attention to nothing else as she sat down with her back facing him.

Sorana relaxed slightly in relief, realizing that Kaden had been too absorbed in his conversation to notice her at all, but then her muscles tightened as the exact same thought ran through her head again.

In sharp contrast to their previously energetic conversation, the eavesdropping Lombax found it ironic that, once she was close enough to hear what they were saying, they were completely silent.

This was mildly frustrating, but worse, now that she wasn't straining to hear and piece together what she could, her mind began to wander in the silence.

It focused on the main question at hand,  _'Who was this woman and what was her relationship with Kaden?'_

True, this question had never left Sorana’s thoughts, but, now that she couldn't gather more evidence to the mystery, her mind began drawing half-baked conclusions.

The way they acted was clearly close enough to be considered friendly, though Kaden kept so few friends.

A small flutter of self-satisfaction tickled the back of Sorana's thoughts as she noted herself to be among that short list.

Then she remembered that she 'hadn't' actually yet resolved whether Kaden was upset with her or not about not visiting him.

Sorana pushed the thoughts aside completely and returning to the main question. If this mysterious girl was some new friend of Kaden’s, he must have known her long before the Depot match, since he had gone straight from match to hospital to Sargasso. Either way, it seemed unlikely that they could have become this close very quickly.

' _It took me nearly a year just to start talking with him normally,'_ Sorana thought bitterly.

Again, the white-furred Lombax was quick to shake these odd thoughts out of her mind. What she needed to do now was to focus on ‘why’ Kaden hadn't told her about this new friend.

Anytime Kaden met someone or became interested in something new, he would almost always tell her about it the next time they spoke.

These things rarely lasted, both new friends and interests, but she couldn't believe Kaden would neglect to tell her about someone he seemed to be so friendly with. They had spoken fairly frequently before his match, so the timing wasn’t an issue.

Sorana began to wonder if, perhaps, this person was someone Kaden didn't want her to know about.

' _But then, why would Kaden ever want to keep his relationship with this woman hidden?'_  she wondered.  _'And why had she been waiting for him at the starport? It was almost as if they were secretly dating, or something.'_

There was a slight pause in Sorana's consciousness as she reflected on this last thought.

Seconds later, her mind erupted in a series of counter-arguments, ' _Kaden had never cared about romance before,'_  she pointed out to herself.  _'He could barely make normal friends, let alone get a 'girlfriend','_ she added reassuringly.

' _Plus, there was no girl in the galaxy that would date 'him','_ Sorana then thought snidely.  _'He might be a genius, but his personality flaws could fill a psychological journal. No girl in her right mind would put up with someone like that.'_

' _The two of them clearly must have met here at Nova,'_  she noted next, too focused on proving her point to realize the irony of her previous thought.  _'They couldn't possibly have gotten that close in such a short amount of time.'_

' _Especially since I've known him for years and we’ve never been that close,'_  chimed a corner of Sorana's mind that she brushed aside reflexively.

However, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary, somehow Sorana couldn't shake away the tugging feeling of doubt. It was like a fishing hook that refused to be pulled loose.

And, as with such lingering suspicions, inevitably came questions of contingency: What would she do if it were true? Would she try to break them up? Would she even have the right to do so? Why had she immediately thought of breaking them up?

Sorana had no answers for these thoughts and she raised her drink to her lips as a way to distract herself from her own head.

"Nope," Kaden suddenly stated in a firm and serious tone, "I am 'not' getting a uterus."

The moment the words were had been recognized by Sorana's brain, every muscle in her body jolted.

Even with a mouth full of liquid, she tried to inhale in surprise, allowing fluid to enter her trachea.

Half a second later, her choking reflex kicked in and she spat the remaining drink out of her mouth and across the table like a bursting pipe, before violently coughing and fighting for air.

All of this was made worse by the fact that almost none of Sorana's conscious mind was even aware of her predicament. It was instead occupied with other, much more pressing questions.

Hearing the commotion, Kaden turned to see what was going on, "I think someone's dying over there," he noted curiously to his companion.

"Don't change the subject!" the woman shot back, her tone was clearly unhappy. "Are you saying that you plan on forcing 'me' to have all three of our children, by myself?"

If the first statement had rocked Sorana's boat, this one had immediately blown a hole in its side and sunk it.

Almost as if something invisible had hit her, Sorana fell out of her chair onto her knees as she continued to gasp desperately for breath.

Despite his companion's upset tone, Kaden's focus returned to the spasming Lombax nearby. He was struck by how familiar they seemed to be even as his mind knew such a coincidence would be impossible and, after seeing her fall from her chair, decided he had to do something.

Kaden quickly got out of his own chair and moved to offer assistance, "Hey, are you alrigh-," he began, but before the concerned Lombax could finish his sentence, he got a good look at the coughing girl’s face. "Sorana?" he gasped. "What are you doin-"

Yet again Kaden was cut off, but this time it was by Sorana herself, whose hand shot up the moment he was in range and grabbed him by the collar. She then used that grip to pull herself up to his face.

"Whhha… hyou…" she rasped incomprehensibly.

Kaden helped her to her feet.

After a few more seconds to catch her breath and calm down she was able to speak coherently, "What… are you doing?" she demanded.

"We could ask you the same thing… rich girl," said the tan-furred Lombax who had been sitting with Kaden.

A sudden, powerful sense of déjà vu hit Sorana as she blinked at the girl who had spoken, "Who?" she began in confusion.

"Sorana, you remember Varin," Kaden said awkwardly with a gesture to the tan-furred Lombax.

Sorana blinked a few more times at the woman in question. Now that she had a good, close look, she could tell that it was, in fact, Varin, who currently sat at the table. The face, especially the expression, was similar, but Sorana had been sure that Varin’s fur color had been brown last time.

It wasn't just the fur that was different, either. Sorana made a habit of remembering things about people she met, changes in appearance often made good talking points at social gatherings, but Varin seemed too off. Like, the very shape of her body seemed different than Sorana’s memory.

"I know," Varin began, speaking to Sorana with an understanding tone, "Sometimes even I can't help but stare at me either. My beauty is both a gift and a curse."

"Ha," Kaden laughed, "A gift from a DNA sequencer maybe. What is your real fur color anyway?"

Varin shrugged, "I don't dwell on the past," she brushed off dismissively.

Kaden just shook his head, but then he suddenly seemed to realize the position he and Sorana were in, his hands gripping her arms supportively, with his face mere inches away from hers.

With an awkward side-step, the tan Lombax swiftly created a gap between himself and his childhood friend, "Wh-why don't you have a seat, Sorana?" he asked, somewhat nervously.

Just as Sorana had feared that Kaden might harbor a grudge against her, he too worried about what she currently thought of him. The memory of what Alister had told him in the hospital, when he'd delivered Sorana's chocolates, began to replay itself in his mind against his wishes.

Still trying to wrap her head around the situation, Sorana moved robotically over to the table and took a seat.

She looked up at Varin, who was glaring darkly at her, then she turned back to Kaden, "What are you two doing?" she asked, whispers of recent thoughts still floating around her mind.

"Eating lunch," answered Varin curtly.

Sorana shook her head, "No, I mean, what were you two talking about… just now? Before we, um… before we 'noticed' each other," she continued as she got a better grip on her situation.

Kaden and Varin looked at Sorana curiously and then to one another.

"Oh that," smiled Kaden, as he realized what she was referring to. "Listen to this, Sorana. Varin here wants me to undergo gene-splicing so that I can have a womb surgically implanted."

Sorana was just about to comment about how that reply gave her far more questions than answers when Varin suddenly replied heatedly,

"It's only fair!” she argued, to Sorana of all people. “Three kids are the perfect number for a steady population growth while maintaining a stable household. But this guy here thinks that just because I was born the ‘woman’, I have to grow and birth the little gremlins all by myself. Can you believe that? The least he could do is split them with me."

Varin continued to stare at Sorana as she finished, as if she expected the confused Lombax to take her side. Sorana, however, was again lost as the conversation was quickly proving too much to handle.

Kaden turned his glare on Varin, "It wouldn't be an even split," he countered. "The treatment to give a guy female reproductive organs takes over a year to complete and that entire time is filled with crazy hormonal imbalances, terrible muscle spasms, and severe pain as nanites alter the bone structure to make extra room for the new organs."

"Oh no! Hormonal imbalances? You poor thing," Varin mocked coldly. "I said that I would take on two of them. That way you'd just have the splicing and one birth cycle. That would be about even with my two birth cycles. Fair!"

But Kaden shook his head, "All that medical treatment would just be a colossal waste of time and a ton of bolts," he argued back. "You're telling me that it's fine to increase the total amount of effort and pain required by over a third, just so that you can make me take some of it on? Besides, I think you're also forgetting about the removal treatment? I'm not spending the rest of my life with a uterus!"

"And what's wrong with that?!" Varin demanded, with a raised tone. "Some of us happen to live with them our whole lives and we get by just fine."

The two Lombaxes then began to stare one another down.

This gave Sorana the time she needed to get her head straight, "Hold on!" she almost yelled across the café area, "You two aren't actually planning on having k-kids, are you?" she stammered, still not fully willing to accept what she was hearing.

"Ew, no," gagged Varin in disgust. "Why would we ever do that?" she questioned in genuine bafflement.

Sorana's mouth hung open slightly, "You… you were just talking about it," she reminded Varin, a hint of anger in her voice.

"No, no," waved Kaden dismissively, "that was just a hypothetical question."

"Yeah, that's right," Varin agreed. "Besides, everyone knows test tube babies are the only smart way of having children. Perfectly controlled environments with 24/7 growth monitoring. And that's saying nothing about the huge number of ‘unnecessary’ discomforts you save."

Sorana was still confused, though admittedly relieved, "What in the world made you two discuss something like that?" she questioned further, if for no reason other than to ensure there was nothing more to the argument.

At that question, Varin and Kaden looked back at one another, puzzlement written on both of their faces.

"How ‘did’ we get on this topic?" Kaden asked curiously.

"I don't know," replied Varin with a shrug.

The two of them then sat there in silence as they tried to backtrack their thoughts and find out when their conversation had gone so off track.

Sorana was caught off guard by the sudden cessation of sound, but waited for one of them to make the next move. She was too confused to make it herself.

Suddenly, Varin snapped her fingers, "I got it," she declared excitedly. "You asked me if I wanted cheese on my sandwich."

Kaden threw his hands up in the air, "Ah! That's right.”

The two of them then shared a grin and a nod, but were otherwise silent and appeared satisfied with the conclusion.

Sorana continued to wait patiently in her seat for them to elaborate… but they did not.

Now that her first fear was soothed, at least, Sorana's mind returned to normal functioning.

As normal process resumed, she offhandedly asked a question, "You could make it so that a guy can have a baby?" she asked, as her mind reviewed what had just been said.

Varin flicked her hand casually, "Guy, girl… pig, chicken. With the right equipment, I could turn anyone into anything." Then Varin's expression turned suspicious and she gave a sideways glance to Sorana, "Why? Curious to see the other side's 'perspective'?" she asked in an oddly knowing tone.

"No!" Sorana asserted hastily.

Too hastily, in Varin's opinion and her sideways look did not ease.

Sorana then cleared her throat, "Anyway, what are you two doing here? Together I mean."

Inwardly, the white-furred Lombax winced as she realized how obvious that question had sounded. The 'uniqueness' of the conversation so far had thrown her off balance and she had accidentally spoken too freely.

"What's it to you?" Varin demanded back sharply.

"Varin," said Kaden in an equally sharp tone.

Varin folded her arms with indignation, "I told you we were in a hurry. This little lunch break was already pressing my schedule margins, but ‘now’ we'll be stuck here because you need to catch up with your girlfriend," she added with a nod towards Sorana.

Kaden grit his teeth, "She's not my-" but he stopped himself and turned to Sorana, "On my way in, Varin text-linked me, saying she wanted to meet up as soon as I landed. We were just on the way to see whatever it is she wanted to show me," he explained.

"The better question is, what are 'you' doing here?" countered Varin, voicing her suspicions at last. "Oddly coincidental, you sitting just a few seats away like that."

Sorana’s mouth went a little dry as she finally realized she’d been caught, "I-I was… I had just gotten off a flight of my own," she offered weakly.

Varin did not look satisfied with her answer.

Sorana, still feeling slightly awkward about stalking the two of them and the whole hospital thing, had been trying to avoid eye-contact with Kaden thus far. But, she turned to him anyway as she made her case for the coincidence.

"Were you supposed to arrive back today?" she lied to her closest friend. "I had completely forgo-" but her words caught in her throat when she finally got a good look at Kaden's eye. "By the council!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Sorana couldn't believe that she'd forgotten about the armored fist to the face that Kaden had eaten earlier. Even through his fur, she could clearly see that the skin around his left eye was a sickly mix of purple and green.

It wasn't swollen anywhere near what one would expect after the hit he'd taken, but the total surface area of his face that was affected by it was well over a quarter. Kaden's left eye was even shut slightly due to the damage.

"Kaden, you need to go see a doctor right away!" Sorana declared, her surprise and awkwardness quickly turning to concern as her protective nature kicked in. "I can't believe you're even walking around after something like that!"

Kaden was about to try and assure his friend, when Varin interrupted, "Pft, that's nothing. I'll patch it up in no time… once we get moving," she added, reiterating that they had places to be.

Again Kaden was about to say something when Sorana spoke first, "I think he needs to see a 'real' doctor, rather than be experimented on in your… ‘mad science’ lab."

Varin gasped and looked as if she'd been insulted, "You take that back!" she demanded angrily. "I am too a 'real' doctor."

This time, before Sorana could reply, Kaden leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "She actually does have a Ph.D.," he chimed in. "But she's a bit sensitive about it, since she also lost her license in the same month."

Sorana was surprised by this fact, but mostly irritated that Kaden had jumped in to aid her opponent. So much so that she glared at him and forgot to continue her argument.

When no retort came, Varin crossed her arms and tilted her head back arrogantly, "Oh please, if I can make a man lay eggs, then I can definitely patch up a little bruise," she said confidently with a gesture to Kaden, but then she turned to regard the injured Lombax’s face again, "Err… I mean, big and hideously disfiguring facial wound… it's still not a problem, though."

Kaden glared at her for a moment, annoyed by the obvious mockery, but more curious about her word choice, "You mean 'make a man give birth', right?"

Varin returned the look, "You heard me."

Kaden sighed, "Well, it doesn't really matter either way, because I don't need any medical help. I feel fine."

"Kaden, you know you have a tendency to underestimate these things," Sorana pressed persuasively. "You should really get your face looked at, but by professional and 'licensed' medical personnel," she added with a sideways glance at Varin.

Varin smirked back at her, but didn't say anything, seemingly happy enough just to have her title acknowledged.

"Sorana, I'm fine," Kaden assured her. "I still have some combat grade Nanotech in my circulatory system from the mission. It's already managed to keep down most of the swelling and the coloring will go away in a day or two. I don't need a doctor," he declared flatly. "Or unlicensed medical help," he added with a look at Varin.

"Kaden-" Sorana began again, but she was cut off by Varin.

"Enough of this," the newly tan-furred Lombax said to Kaden, before pushing back her chair and rising to her feet, "I'll give you a reason to come with me, right now."

Varin's eyes twinkled with mischief as she moved around the table towards Kaden, stopping well within what would be considered his 'personal space'.

The tall, tan-furred woman then placed a hand on the table in front of him and leaned in toward his face, bringing her own close. Her eyes locked with his as she licked her lips in anticipation.

The sudden change of character caught both of the other two Lombaxes completely off guard. Kaden was confused, so his body froze as his mind began overheating in its fight to make sense of his situation.

Sorana's heart rate instantly skyrocketed. Her subconscious, knowing what was about to happen, screamed for her to stop it. Her conscious mind, however, was still fighting to comprehend the reality of the situation and searched desperately for a way to deny it.

Too late though, Varin was just centimeters away from Kaden's face now. Her lips split in one last, knowing grin, before she inhaled deeply and… gently blew on Kaden's bruised eye.

The instant the air brushed against his damaged face, Kaden's whole body flinched as if he'd been stuck with something sharp.

He realized in that instant just how little Nanotech was left in his blood. The healing agent hadn't even tried to soothe his inflamed nerves. Even the mild flicking of his fur, caused by push and pull of the air, was enough to send intense pain shooting across his face.

Varin stood up again and looked down at Kaden triumphantly, "See," she grinned as Kaden's facial and neck muscles twitched from each tender recoil of his fur.

Sorana let out a massive breath of relief and almost fell back into her seat, which she'd been on the edge of for the past several milliseconds. Her heart was still pounding against her chest, though, and her body heat dropped slightly as her muscles relaxed and blood flowed freely again.

Kaden, having recovered, stared back up at Varin defiantly, "Ok, it hurts 'a little'. So does stubbing your toe, but you don't go to the hospital every time that happens," he pointed out resolutely.

Sorana was still trying to catch her breath and she swallowed hard as she mentally brushed aside the odd moment and gathered her wits to retort, "I think your head might be a little bit more important than your foot," she shot back protectively. "You could at least have a concussion from a hit like that," she pleaded.

"No," countered Varin, seeming to switch sides. "He's right. Just because it hurts and is tender doesn't mean it's anything serious," she agreed with a thoughtful expression.

Kaden was surprised by Varin's change of allegiance, but he ran with it anyway, "See, no big deal," he said, smiling comfortingly toward Sorana.

Sorana was also caught off guard by Varin's switch and didn't reply immediately.

Varin nodded her head, "Yes, that little test meant nothing," she continued, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "We'll have to try something more... conclusive."

A terrible feeling of foreboding suddenly washed over Kaden and he turned back to look up at Varin, "What's that now?" he asked suspiciously.

Without another word, Varin pulled back the sleeve on her right arm and held out her palm. The horrible sound of air escaping a compressed airway reached Sorana and Kaden’s ears as she hawked up some phlegm in the back of her throat, before spitting into her hand. She then cupped her fingers and wound her arm back behind her.

With an evil glint in her eye and a wicked grin across her lips, Varin looked down at her victim eagerly, "If this kills you… you have a brain aneurysm."

Varin then breathed in and tightened her muscles for the swing…

"Wait-wait! Ok, ok… you win!” Kaden shouted, throwing up his hands defensively, “I'll get it looked at," he surrendered desperately.

With her hand still poised high in the air, Varin's expression looked utterly disappointed, "Are you sure?" she asked. "I mean, it could be nothing… no big deal. You ‘do’ still have some combat-grade Nanotech in your bloodstream, after all."

"I am ‘very’ sure," Kaden insisted fearfully. "After taking a punch like that, I'd be a fool not to get it looked at," he added, the irony of their role reversal not lost on him.

Shaking off the odd situation, Sorana chimed in, "Yes, and by an 'actual' doctor," she repeated, directing it at Varin rather than Kaden.

Varin glared back at the white-furred Lombax, "I don't know," she countered, unconvinced. "Doctors are pretty busy people. I would be derelict in my duty if I let you take up their precious time that could be used saving lives. Unless, of course, we were 'sure'," she insisted, her hand still ready to be unleashed at any moment.

"There's got to be another way," Kaden insisted, knowing full well that Varin only wanted to slap him across a very raw bruise for the fun of it, "one that doesn't involve getting assaulted."

Varin tapped her chin and pretended to think about it, all without disarming her arm, "Well… I suppose the problem could be solved if you'd just let me handle it like I offered to in the first place."

Kaden glared back at his possibly second assaulter in less than an hour, "Fine," he conceded unhappily, "you can fix my eye. But only if that's 'all' you do."

To both Kaden's and Sorana's surprise, Varin smiled and lowered her hand, "Deal."

Kaden breathed a sigh of relief, but no sooner had he let it out, then it was sucked back up in surprise. Varin had grabbed him by his armored collar and yanked him right out of his chair and up onto his feet.

"What are you-" the surprised Lombax tried to say as Varin then proceeded to pull him unceremoniously backwards from the table and toward the café entrance.

"We’re going to fix that ugly mug of yours," Varin answered condescendingly, as if she'd been asked a dumb question. "Well, the part that Kor damaged at least."

"Right now?" Kaden questioned in confusion. "I still needed to…" The Lombax prisoner trailed off as he looked back at Sorana's dumbfounded expression, too stunned to do or say anything, as she watched them leave.

"Listen here, 'One-Eyed Willie’!" Varin snarled back. "I told you that I've got a schedule to keep and I intend to make sure you're there to take the blame for me being late. You can clear flags with your love interests on your own time."

"Love wha-gah!" Kaden was yanked again for emphasis. "Can you at least stop dragging me?" he begged as he was forced around the corner and out of sight.

Sorana stood up and stared after them with her mouth slightly agape, blinking a few times in disbelief, as a small janitorial robot came around to clean up the trash left on the table.

' _Since when has Kaden let anyone push him around like that?'_  a bitter corner of her mind asked.

* * *

Varin shoved Kaden aggressively into the grav-lift before following behind him.

The doors then shut behind her as she walked in.

"And what was that about?" Kaden demanded the moment he'd regained his balance.

"It's called walking, Kaden," Varin replied sarcastically, "it's how you get from one place to another."

"No, I mean pulling me away from Sorana!" he growled back. "I had something I needed to… to discuss with her."

Varin groaned, "Like I said, on your own time, Romeo."

Kaden shook his head unhappily, "But it was important," he reiterated before turning away and sighing. "The truth is, I haven't actually had the chance to talk to her since the CtD match. I think she may have been avoiding me."

Varin rolled her eyes, "And what makes you think that?" she asked, hoping he would be too embarrassed to answer.

Kaden shrugged, "It's just… something Alister said,” he explained, much to Varin’s dissatisfaction. “Sorana's always worries about me when I get hurt, but… I think I may have gone too far this time."

Varin took a deep breath and sighed and her demeanor softened, "Don't worry about it, Kaden," she began, in a surprisingly soothing tone. She then put her hand on Kaden's shoulder reassuringly, "You said you two have been friends since way back, right? I'm sure if you haven't driven her off by now, she's probably too crazy to leave over something this."

"Hah," Kaden laughed. The words weren't kind, but they were somehow comforting. "Thanks Varin… I think."

Varin gave Kaden's shoulder another reassuring squeeze, "Sure thing," she replied with a soft smile.

The two then rode the elevator in silence for a while. Neither one moved much or said anything.

"Varin?" Kaden said after a while.

"Yes, Kaden?" Varin asked openly.

"Is that the hand you spat on?"

Varin replied by giving Kaden's shoulder yet another reassuring squeeze… to ensure she’d gotten all of the goo off, "Yes, Kaden," she answered, in a flat and guiltless tone. "Yes, it is."


	2. Unresolved Issues

When the grav-lift finally came to a stop, Kaden realized that the floor they'd come to was one he didn't have access to. One that was really deep under the Military Field.

The doors to the lift opened and Varin swiftly walked out before heading down the nearest hallway. 

Even though Kaden knew that they were below the Military Field, the metallic walls and lighting format seemed oddly like Science Field architecture.

Varin came to a halt in front of a pair of large sliding metal doors. She waved her hand over the access console and, after the device took a moment to check her security clearance, the two heavy doors split apart and slowly opened. 

Kaden took a moment to marvel at how strongly built the doors were and wondered what the need for them was.

Barely waiting for the doors to open wide enough, Varin entered the large room and Kaden followed. 

The interior was definitely a science lab of some kind. There were large holo-monitors against walls and on top of work desks. Several tall cabinets dotted the far ends of the room and were clearly filled with dozens of chemical and material agents. Most unique and eye-catching, however, was the row of reinforced, metal doors that lined the back wall.

Each of the entrances looked similar to a vault door and was labeled with a designation number, an animal species name, and, scrawled across in random directions, strange nicknames like "Bonecrusher" and "Split Tooth". Kaden also noted that most appeared to be in Varin's handwriting.

"What is this place?" Kaden asked, as he continued to look around curiously.

"Combat Animal Husbandry," she answered casually. "Training against armed androids and live-fire auto-turrets is more than enough for the average grunt, but once a student reaches level five in the Military Field, their training needs increase and experience against something a little more 'savage' is added to the curriculum."

"So these animals are all here to fight against Military Field students?" he asked as he read the word, "Terocklick?" out loud from one of the species plaques.

Varin shrugged, "Some are for fighting against and some are for fighting with. Fortis' pet Drogith is further down the hall," she added with a gesture of her hand, followed by a shake of her head. "That thing is the meanest creature I've ever dealt with. Worst of all, it's smart enough to break out of most containers, so it keeps us caretakers on our toes."

"That sounds horrifying," replied Kaden as he followed Varin deeper into the laboratory.

They crossed into another section of the lab; this room appeared to be for storage and consisted of several dozen aisles of shelves that stood like a library. A quick glance showed Kaden that the shelves were filled mostly with various animal feeds and taming equipment.

"It's not that bad, really," Varin answered thoughtfully. "It usually just gets out because it wants to 'play' with its neighbors. You know something is a ‘true’ monster when it regularly tries to kill and eat other monsters. I'll never understand how Fortis turns it into a puppy the second it sees him. Though, I'm really more of a biochemist than a biologist."

Kaden was curious about this place and the creatures that were kept here, but most of all he was curious about what Varin had brought him here for.

"So, what's in here that you wanted to show me?" he asked.

"Nothing," Varin answered with a shrug, "we're just picking up someone else." She then suddenly stopped walking, causing Kaden to nearly run into her. "Actually," she began again, with her trademark mischievous grin, "there ‘is’ something interesting here I could show you."

They had come to halt at an open area within the storage library, where several work benches were located. They appeared to be used for packaging, opening, and sorting the various objects in the storehouse. 

Varin looked around for a moment before spotting a couple of large chairs at a nearby work station. She quickly walked over to them and motioned for Kaden to follow her, before the two of them took a seat.

Without explaining anything, the tall Lombax sucked in a huge breath, before cupping her hands around her mouth and bellowing, "Lorrrrrr-Naaaaaaaaaa!!!!" at the top of her lungs.

Kaden winced as the shout echoed in his right ear, but was worryingly muted in his left, making him realize that his Nanotech must have healed wrong and created one or more vein bypasses that were restricting blood flow to his eardrum.

Before the last echo even faded, Kaden could hear the reaction. Though hard to tell due to the reverberation effect, the distant sound of something breaking rang across the room. 

Kaden tried listening more carefully and a few seconds later he heard another crash, only this time it was much closer.

The confused Lombax strained his good ear intently, until he could make out the sound of heavy, awkward steps echoing from the isles of stored goods. This was then followed by a third crash.

Kaden turned to look at Varin curiously, wondering what, in a laboratory full of monstrous combat beasts, was currently smashing its way towards them.

Varin did not see the look though, she was simply staring eagerly at the edge of the supply racks.

Another crash echoed through the room, very close this time. Kaden spun back around and matched Varin's gaze at the spot from which the sound seemed to come from.

Then, at last, a tan-furred Lombax, almost identical in appearance to Varin, burst into their view. She was wearing a simple lab coat that was covered in various colored liquids and slimes, and her expression was panicked.

"Varin!" she shouted fearfully the moment she'd spotted them, "What's wron-"

But before she could finish, the energized Lombax's foot came down at an odd angle as she tried to turn her momentum toward them. 

Expecting her first foot to have moved by now, her other leg had already taken a step forward and caught itself on the first one, causing her to trip on her own feet. 

The tan-furred Lombax collapsed to the ground, landing face-first. 

Kaden winced at both the sight and the sound of the impact.

Varin then clapped happily, "She never disappoints," the wickedly grinning Lombax said.

Weakly, the beleaguered newcomer tried to rise, pushing herself up off the floor with her arms, before lifting her head to look at Varin, "What… What is… What's the problem?" she asked between gasps for breath.

Varin motioned with her head toward Kaden as if nothing unusual had just happened, "I want you to meet someone," she answered casually.

"Are you…" the poor Lombax on the floor wheezed, "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope," Varin replied without a shred of guilt in her tone or expression.

After hearing this, the girl, covered in various and worrisome looking chemicals, seemed to deflate, before flopping back down on the floor in exhaustion, "I thought… I thought one of the creatures had gotten out again," she whimpered angrily at Varin. "I thought someone was in trouble!"

Varin's expression became serious and she shook her head in disapproval, "Yes, and what a great lot of help you would have been. Anyone in trouble would be halfway digested by the time you got here."

Kaden was expecting an angry retort, but to his surprise, the female Lombax simply sighed heavily, as if she was used to such treatment. She then got carefully back to her feet.

Once she was fully vertical and brushing off what she could from her lab coat, Varin started the introduction, "This is Kaden," she began. "He's one of my practical lab students and a temporary member of the Tough Nuts."

Varin then turned to Kaden, "Kaden this is my lab assistant, Lorn-"

"Lorna Cross," the recovered female Lombax finished curtly, intentionally interrupting Varin, "and I'm only Varin's 'part-time' assistant. My main focus is on biological development and interaction. Pleased to meet you," she added with a polite smile toward Kaden. She then reached out a freshly scraped-clean hand for him to shake.

Kaden got up to take her hand, "I'm Kaden-" but before he could finish his full name, Lorna had taken a step toward him.

Her foot landed on the puddle of liquid that had formed from dripping off her coat and, finding no friction to support her, the foot slid forward.

Possibly due to recent trauma, Kaden instinctively jumped out of the way as the chemical-soaked Lombax flew towards him. He had moved aside just in time for her to slide cleanly past him and slam face first onto the workbench that he'd been sitting at. 

Again, Kaden winced at the sight and sound.

"As I was saying," Varin continued with a much larger grin on her face now, "This is my lab assistant, Lorna Cross. She's a pretty good scientist when it comes to animals and complex organisms, she’s even bred nearly all of the beasts in this pen for optimal combat potential by herself. However, the only upper-level lab overseer in the Science Field who's willing to take her on is me. I'm sure you've noticed the reason why."

Lorna groaned in pain on the ground, but Kaden got the distinct impression from the timing of the groan that the note of pain was related to what Varin had just said, rather than her physical injury.

Eventually, the unfortunate Lombax got back to her feet again, her hand clasped tightly over her now bloody nose. Without saying another word she turned and made her way to the nearest emergency chemical shower.

Once underneath, she took off her lab coat, revealing a full body suit from neck to shoes underneath. She dumped the dirty coat haphazardly in a heap on the ground before stepping into the shower and activating it. 

The falling liquid quickly got to work, easily washing away the plethora of fluids and goo from her suit and head, while she stood glumly in place, letting the water run over her drooping ears and sad expression.

After watching this pitiful display for about a minute, Kaden turned back to Varin with a questioning look, "Are you two related?" he asked at last.

Once the initial shock of Lorna's arrival had worn off, Kaden's thoughts had immediately turned to how similar Lorna and Varin looked. Despite knowing that Varin manipulated her physical appearance at will, the resemblance between her and Lorna was just too close to be a coincidence and this had been his first reaction.

"Not at all," Varin replied simply. "Why do you ask?"

Kaden eyed Varin, "Because you look like twins," he answered, giving Varin a look as if the reason should have been obvious.

"Oh, that. Well, that's because I used her genetic code as a template for my recent makeover," she explained, before taking a step back and spreading out her arms to display her body. "Sequencing DNA structure overrides from scratch is a ton of work and making them fit together is even more so. However, I find that it's actually pretty simple to use an already existing, compatible DNA sequence, and modify it just enough that your body won't reject it."

Kaden looked Varin over and nodded his approval, "Not bad," he complimented honestly.

The observation was a completely objective one, though. Having seen plenty of attempts at gene splicing throughout Principal School, Kaden knew that they rarely turned out well. 

Varin's transformation, on the other hand, showed none of the malformed bone structure or skin tumors that were typical of botched splicing attempts.

The heavily modified Lombax bowed modestly, "Why, thank you," she smiled. But, when she brought her head back up, her eyes shifted slightly and she leaned closer to Kaden and spoke in a hushed voice, "Actually, on that note, there's something I was hoping you could help-"

"Alright, I'm done," interrupted Lorna, who was now sporting a brand new, sparklingly clean lab coat, with no signs of the chemicals that had previously drenched her.

Kaden looked at her in surprise, "That was fast," he noted.

Lorna shrugged, "I've had a lot of practice."

"Ha, yeah," agreed Varin with a shake of her head. "It's a good thing I didn't give myself your sense of balance when I spliced our genes."

Lorna's eyes narrowed at Varin, "It would have served you right for taking someone's genetic matrix without their permission," she said angrily. "Do you have any idea how weird it is to be tormented by yourself?"

Varin rolled her eyes, "Oh come on. It's not 'that' weird,” she countered, before turning to Kaden for support.

But the male Lombax shrugged and then held up his hand, bringing his thumb and index finger close together, just short of touching.

She gave him a slight glare, before turning her back on the both of them, "Well, too late now," she said unapologetically. "Besides, we're running late as it is, so let’s get moving." 

Varin then proceeded to march off toward the door.

Kaden leaned over to Lorna, "Do you know where we're going?" he asked curiously.

Lorna sighed, "Not really. I've actually got a ton of work to do here, but I've learned that when Varin is up to something it's better to find out when she wants to brag about it... rather than when she wants to test it."

And with a sad expression that was completely unique from all the others she’d shown so far, Lorna sighed and followed behind Varin.

Kaden shrugged dismissively and joined them.

* * *

After another ride on the grav-lifts, the trio arrived at a familiar location this time. Kaden instantly recognized the level where the Tough Nuts' club room was located.

Sure enough, as Kaden and Lorna followed Varin, she led the two of them straight to the familiar door and opened it with a wave of her hand.

As Kaden entered the room, he was greeted by a scene that mirrored the first time he'd entered it, which felt like ages ago now.

At the top of the far side sat Torque, eating what appeared to be soup this time. Down below that, reading a digi-pad in his bed, was Wraith. Finally, there was Lacera studying the various technical images on the monitor in the briefing area.

Despite the similarity of the situation, however, there was one major difference. Sitting in the far corner of the room, playing with a brilliantly gleaming knife, sat a fourth Lombax. 

She resembled Lacera in terms of fur color and build, though she was a few inches shorter. The big difference between the two, though, was the way this unknown Lombax looked up at the group as they entered.

Her eyes seemed to twinkle the same way her knife did. This did not give off a comforting feeling and Kaden became all the more wary of her as she put the knife back into its sheath on her forearm.

There was something very off-putting about how the girl had slid the sharpened piece of metal into its holder with such familiarity that she didn't even look at it, instead, having kept her gaze on him and the other new arrivals.

Worst of all, Kaden noted, was that when she got up and began walking toward them, he couldn't find even a hint that the blade was on her, despite knowing exactly where it must be. Its sheath was completely concealed inside her forearm's armor plate.

As Varin's group converged on the central area, Lacera looked up at them, "Ah, the stragglers arrive at last," she said with an even tone.

"Had a little holdup," Varin replied with a gesture to Kaden.

Kaden looked unapologetic.

Lacera shrugged, "Well, now that everyone's here, we can get started."

Varin looked around the room curiously, "No Alister?" she asked.

It was Wraith who answered, shouting from the back, "Wants nothing to do with it," without looking up from his reading, "Probably the only sane one out of us all."

Lacera's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything more until the unknown Lombax that resembled her had reached the briefing area, "You're the only two who haven't met yet," Lacera said at last, with a nod of her head toward Kaden and then to the girl. "Kaden, this is my dear, little sister, Viscera. Viscera, this is Kaden, our temporary mechanical technician."

'Viscera', now standing next to Lacera, took a step toward Kaden and offered him her hand, "Nice to meet you," she grinned with a soft, but sharp tone, almost like it had an underlying hiss to it.

Kaden studied Viscera. The grin she wore was mostly friendly, but her eyes hinted at just enough wickedness for Kaden to be concerned. 

Of most concern, however, was the female Lombax's posture.

While he could no longer see the knife or the compartment it was hidden in, he could tell from the way Viscera stood that she was poised to draw it out any moment.

From what Kaden could guess, the Lombax in front of him was capable of pulling out her knife and using it almost as quickly as if she'd been holding it in her hand the entire time. 

To make matters even worse, the longer he studied her, the more he realized that her posture allowed for easy access to various other points on her body, hinting loudly to his brain that there were more knives hidden there as well.

Despite the outstretched hand offered to him, it was because of this knowledge that Kaden did not get any closer, instead, he hesitated just on the edge of what he guessed was Viscera's striking range.

Viscera watched as Kaden sized her up, but he had taken so much care in looking her over for danger, that he hadn't realized he'd been staring for too long.

Her grin twitched slightly and Kaden's mind registered the slight shift of weight on her back foot, but that was all he noticed. In the next instant, Kaden found his face mere inches away from Viscera's, their muzzles almost touching as her eyes looking deeply into his.

The movement had been so subtle, that Kaden's mind hadn't even recognized it until she was close enough to kiss. 

The second it did, however, he shot backwards on reflex and brought up his right hand to about chest level. He was still wearing his combat gauntlets and he'd even sent a NID command to activate his repulsor shield.

Nothing happened, though, as his weapons' circuitry had been fried thanks to the Wigwump's stomach acid. Luckily, there was no actual need for them now.

In the half second it took Kaden to recover from the sudden shock, he looked back to realize that Viscera had relaxed and was now sizing him up as well. She wore a mischievous smile as she did so.

"Reflexes are slow," she noted with a tone of disappointment, "But… I like his eyes," she added with a note of approval.

Behind her, Kaden noticed Lacera, her eyes still on the holo-monitor, grin with satisfaction and nod in agreement, "We'll need them for what's coming," she said, before turning so that her voice would carry to the back of the room, "Alright you slackers, it's show time."

Wraith sighed in his bunk before turning off his digi-pad. While appearing very reluctant to do so, the black-furred Lombax rolled off his bed, causing it to retreat into the wall, and placed his handheld device on the desk that appeared in its place, before shambling his way toward the main briefing area.

Torque looked up from his bowl and then looked back into it sadly. He did not even bother to finish it off or store it in the nearby fridge. Instead, he simply got up from where he sat and slowly made his way down to the briefing area along with Wraith.

Lacera watched with dissatisfaction as her team unenthusiastically assembled, "Well, as miserable as you all look, let's get started." Lacera then pressed an icon on her control board and a virtual figurine of Kor sprang up from the hologram generator, overlaid with technical data, "Revenge on Kor Vol'terran… part 2."

The moment Kaden had seen the Tough Nuts' door, he’d guessed where this whole thing was going, but he still sighed regardless. It was starting to feel like this was never going to end.

The tan male Lombax then raised his hand, "I've got a question," he said in a tone on the verge of being sarcastic.

Unable to be sure of the mockery in his voice, Lacera eventually acknowledged him, "Yes, what is it?"

"Yeah, um hi, I'm just wondering… Exactly 'why' do you want revenge against Kor… part 2?" Kaden asked with no hint of mockery in his voice this time. "I mean, the Tough Nuts won the CtD match, right? You're welcome, by the way. So what's there to be upset about?"

The group of Lombaxes all turned to him, finding it odd that Kaden, of all people, would ask such a thing, "Because that wasn't a win," Lacera spat harshly. "That match was a victory by technicality, but Kor still put four of my Tough Nuts in long-term medical care!"

Wraith loudly cleared his throat and tried to cover up the following words with a cough, "Ehem, no he didn't… ahem."

Lacera shifted her eyes, but did not turn fully to face the interruption, "Quiet down over there, or I'll put another hole in you."

Wraith obediently went silent and Lacera turned back to Kaden, "Regardless, even if we had beaten him cleanly, we could never truly be triumphant until we retrieve what was taken from us."

At this, Lacera keyed a few more icons on her controller and two more holographic objects came to life, one being of a small, customized pistol, and the other a slender, familiar looking knife.

"Kor has a habit of keeping trophies from the opponents he's defeated," Lacera continued, staring intensely at the two holographic objects. "It's not against the rules to take your opponent's equipment; this is simulated warfare after all. That knife was a gift that I had specifically made for my sister upon her admittance to Nova and I paid almost as much in modifications on that pistol as the weapon itself was worth. But, it's not the bolt value of these objects that I care about, it's what they represent."

At this, Viscera leaned forward, an equally intense look in her eyes as her sister's, "As long as Kor holds them, they are proof that he is superior," she summed up with one dramatic sentence.

Kaden eyed the holograms curiously, "Huh, that's just like Kor's whole 'tail' thing," he noted with genuine intrigue at the similarity.

"His what?" questioned Lacera.

"Oh, nothing," replied Kaden, dismissing the comment with a wave. "It's ironic, though," he then continued, changing the subject, "Kor lost that council-banished knife in a Wigwump tunnel on Sargasso and was adamant that he retrieve it. If it hadn't been for Boogoh's eagerness to help, I probably would have said 'forget it', and made him leave it behind. Then you could have scratched it off the list."

"No!" barked Viscera angrily, making Kaden flinch in surprise. "It means nothing unless I can take it back myself."

Lacera nodded her agreement, "Well said, sister. We either need to steal our weapons back or take something equally important slash symbolic of his."

"Like the heart from his chest!" offered Viscera, a wicked smile across her face and an evil glint in her eye.

The group of Lombaxes all looked at her with neutral expressions for several seconds, unable to tell if she was serious or not.

Lacera turned back to the depiction of Kor, "We'll settle for his wrench though. I don't know of many places that sell standard malleus wrenches, so I'll bet that thing is a custom job. I want it on my wall. It will go great next to my trophy helmets."

Kaden eyed her curiously, "So, is taking other people's stuff just a Military Field thing, or…"

Lacera returned her attention to Kaden, suspicion written all over her face, "Well, that's our side of the story, but why would 'you' question 'our' motivations?" she asked distrustfully. "Last time you eagerly came to us seeking nothing more than a second chance at the Red Reaper-"

"Crimson," corrected Kaden reflexively. "Um, never mind that, ignore what I just said," he insisted hastily, after realizing what he'd said.

Lacera eyed the tan-furred Lombax for a few more silent moments before continuing, "As I was saying, what do you care 'why' we are doing this? Is it not enough for simply knowing that Kor will suffer?"

Kaden thought about the question for a moment, "Just curiosity really," he answered honestly, but then seemed to debate something else in his mind. "Actually, I should probably make this clear now… I want absolutely no part of 'this', or anything else involving that red-armored psychopath," he declared, pretended to pat dirt off his hands for emphasis, "This is me washing my hands of Kor Vol'terran."

All eyes turned at once to Kaden, surprise in nearly all of them and open mouths accompanying a few.

"No part?" echoed Lacera in disbelief, "Why in the name of the council not?" she demanded fiercely.

Kaden shrugged, "Oh, I don't know… maybe it's because I don't like metal objects protruding from my chest?" he replied in words laden with sarcasm.

Lacera glared angrily, but to Kaden's surprise, she was doing so at Varin "I thought you said he was in? You were supposed to make sure!" she said accusingly.

Lorna poked her head out from behind Varin, "Um, she didn't ask me whether I wanted to come either."

Completely ignoring Lorna, Varin threw up her hands, equally surprised by Kaden's announcement, "I thought he was. I figured after getting his bell rung in the starport he'd be more than eager to continue this endless cycle of- I mean… honorable quest for justice." Varin then turned to Kaden, "You're telling me that after getting your face high-fived with a fist, you're just going to let it go? After you were 'so' desperate for revenge last time?" her tone was clearly dumbfounded.

Kaden returned her stare and folded his arms in a dignified manner, "That was before I understood him," he countered. "After spending a week together on Sargasso, I know enough about him to realize that the only reason he punched me and broke my digi-pad was to provoke me into fighting him again."

There was a short pause of confused silence before Torque broke it, "Perhaps the usage of your head as a drum has deafened your ear to the music before you," he questioned with a concerned tone.

"That punch must have knocked you silly," translated Varin. "How can you even be so sure of that?" she then pressed further.

Kaden shrugged, "I'm not, really. But I know that Kor would never stoop to sucker punching someone unless he was specifically trying to get under their fur. It's some kind of 'warrior's honor' thing he does. He's obsessed with finding tough opponents to fight. It's weird, but trying to get revenge now would be like giving him exactly what he wants… and I won't fall for it."

The group sat in stunned silence, unable to believe this plot twist, until Lacera finally spoke, "That's rather big of you, Kaden," she admitted in amazement, "How disappointing."

Kaden continued to hold his head high and took her words as a compliment, but then his expression turned thoughtful again, "Wait a second," he began suspiciously, before turning to Varin, "at what time did you tell them 'for sure' I was willing to join in on this?"

Varin shrugged, "I sent them a message right after Kor knuckle-kissed your face," she answered, matter-of-factly.

"Ha," laughed Wraith from his seat "she sent more than that."

At this, Lacera reached over and tapped an icon on her holo-controller. An instant later, the various images on the screen vanished and were replaced by an image of Kaden with Kor standing behind him.

Lacera then pressed play and Kaden watched as his past-self turned to face Kor, before being sucker-punched into the ground a second later.

"You recorded it?!" Kaden demanded angrily.

Varin smiled with pride, "Yep, I saw Kor coming up behind you and I thought, 'this needs to be documented', and turned on my NID's recorder just in time."

"And she was right," noted Lacera through a wide grin. "It even got Torque out of his slump for a second."

Kaden looked at Torque in confusion. The large Lombax still looked gloomy, but he now wore a slight smile, "Not my best work, of course."

Kaden was still confused, but then Lacera played the video again, only this time it had been edited. 

Made up of only two small clips, the moment where Kaden got punched and where he slammed into the ground, the rehashed video played out a familiar melody using the sounds.

*Punch, Punch… Slam*

*Punch, Punch… Slam*

*Punch, Punch… Slam*

"Ya got 'rocked'," noted Viscera, causing a hushed mix of laughter to make its way through the group.

Kaden glared darkly at the video as the loop continued to repeat. Doing so made his wounded face throb, "Are you done yet?" he asked, after Lacera showed no signs of stopping it.

"That depends," she replied callously, her eyes still on the holo-screen, "Are you going to help us fight Kor?"

Kaden continued to glare as he considered his options, "Alright, I'm willing to help you guys with technical support, but I am going nowhere near that nutcase in combat. You can handle all the punching and shooting stuff yourselves."

With a press of her finger, Lacera paused the video loop and turned stiffly toward Kaden. She looked him straight in the eye as she considered his offer.

Then, her face suddenly softened, "Yeah, no problem," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, before turning back to the screen. "That was all I was planning on using you for anyway. You didn't really think I wanted you here for your karate skills did you?" she added with a small laugh.

Kaden was not sure how to feel about Lacera's words, so he simply ignored them, "So, do you actually have a plan to take down Kor or are we just here to brood?"

To his surprise, Lacera actually grinned at his statement, "Oh, I've got a plan," she declared happily.

Kaden sighed at the thought of being roped into more of this nonsense, but he turned his attention to the holo-screen, which had thankfully been changed back to the previous technical images. Likewise, the rest of the group refocused on the screen as well.

Lacera continued tapping a series of icons on her holo-controller, causing all but one of the images and diagrams to fall away. This remaining image, a small thumbnail in the corner, then enlarged rapidly until it took up the whole screen.

The image was overlaid by a large, ornate title banner that was draped across the image of a devastating, war-torn wasteland, filled with Lombax bodies wearing shattered armor,

"Blitzkrieg!" Lacera declared excitedly.

Immediately the words were met by an audible groan that rolled through the group, emitted painfully loudly from Torque, Wraith, Varin, and even Lorna.

Lacera's eyes narrowed at the response, "Something wrong?" she asked dangerously.

Wraith looked as if he was fighting to keep his mouth shut, but eventually lost, "Come on, Boss," the black furred Lombax moaned. "Blitzkrieg is a meat grinder! Only two players ever get rewarded per round and everyone else just gets broken bones and shattered pride, or vice versa."

"Exactly," replied Lacera, a knowing smile on her face. "Since the game is nothing but chaos from start to finish, we'll be free to attack anyone we want. I hope I don't have to say who that person will be."

This time Varin voiced her concerns, "What makes you so sure that Kor will even participate in the next Blitzkrieg?" she asked.

"Because," Lacera began, "with the Gold Bolts out of the tournament, Kor will need to find another way to make bolts at Nova. My sources in the markets tell me that after our last run in, he's been looking for replacement equipment and he hasn't procured much of it, yet. Most of the other Military games' registrations are closed and, of the remaining few, Blitzkrieg appears to pay the best for anyone stupid enough to think it's worth it."

"You mean stupid like us?" asked Wraith sarcastically.

Before Lacera could reply, Torque spoke up, "Blitzkrieg is not a show that can be taken lightly. With our instruments damaged and our sheet music thin, will we even be able to perform in both the opera and ballet?"

"Yeah, boss," agreed Varin, "the next round of Capture the Depot isn't too far off. We'd be stretching our resources, not to mention bodies, thin if we tried to run a Blitzkrieg too."

Lacera narrowed her eyes, unused to having her decisions questioned. They showed no sympathy as she replied, "Fine then… we'll put it to a vote."

At the mention of these words, the room was filled with the sounds of stiffening backs and averted eyes. Nobody was willing to show any sign that they might want to have a vote. 

Kaden seemed to be the only one not acting this way and he assumed that whatever Lacera’s version of ‘voting’ among the Tough Nuts could be… it was a poor example of the democratic process.

The leader of the Tough Nuts looked over her team with a sharp gaze. After a moment though, she nodded with satisfaction and returned to the monitor, "Then, if there are no more complaints-"

"Um…" Kaden began cautiously, "What exactly is Blitzkrieg?"

Lacera glanced at Kaden and considered him a moment before she answered, "Blitzkrieg is one of the most basic and open entry combat games in the Military Field," she explained as she tapped a few more icons on her controller.

The large image on the screen slid away and was replaced by several aerial views and a topographic layout of what appeared to be a box canyon.

"This is Sanguine Gulch," she explained fondly. "The rules are simple, everyone is split into two groups and put on either side of the gulch and their sole objective is to reach the other side alive. The first person to make it to the opposite side in each group wins a hefty bolt reward and a bundle of Military Field points. It's just like the MSE Tournament for the Fuzzies. Only, instead of dumb rookies getting destroyed by slightly 'less' dumb rookies, it's full of students with more, well, skill."

The sound of someone loudly clearing their throat interrupted the group's thoughts and Lacera turned to spot an irritated look on her sister's face.

Lacera smiled apologetically, "I mean, 'mostly' dumb rookies."

Viscera huffed her dissatisfaction, but said nothing else and returned her attention to the screen.

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Kaden admitted innocently.

"Ha," laughed Varin before shaking her head, "how naive the young are."

Before Kaden could reply, Wraith spoke up again, "The game has no entry restrictions! That means no level prerequisite or limits, no bolt entrance fee, and no equipment regulations. The second that start buzzer goes off, it turns into a free for all as the slow, heavily-armed participants on your side immediately try to take out anyone they think can outrun them."

At this, Torque rumbled into activity, "Truth!" he bellowed. "The music is awful. No matter how quickly one plays their instrument, inevitably a few tiny notes always manage to flitter away and out of earshot. Besides, I prefer classical over electro."

At this, Torque and Wraith glared at each other, having realized that they were natural enemies.

"And that's saying nothing of the opposite group," continued Varin. "The first person to touch their opposing wall wins big. The second person, who reached their opposite wall from the other group, gets barely half of what first prize is. This is good motivation to take down anyone you cross paths with. As Wraith said, there is no third prize, so you're essentially getting shot from all sides at all times."

Kaden nodded his head, "You're right, that does sound awful. Why are you doing it again?"

Lacera crossed her arms, unaccustomed to being questioned this much, "Because, this is one of the few Military Field games with open conflict, where we can all attack other participants freely. We got lucky, getting paired up with the Gold Bolts in the first round, but there's no telling what the chances are of coming across Kor alone in any other games."

Kaden thought about Lacera's words for a moment, "If the problem is a matter of meeting up with him, why don't you just challenge Kor to an exhibition match? You can challenge anyone within three levels of your own, right?"

Lacera nodded, "Yes, that's true, but all sanctioned grudge matches are heavily regulated. Stealing equipment, even if it was ours to begin with, is not allowed."

"Well that's not a problem," Kaden countered. "Like I said, Kor's got this whole 'warrior's honor' thing. If you beat him in a fight, he's then honor bound to serve you until he's repaid the life debt… or whatever."

The group all looked at Kaden strangely, but it was Viscera who spoke first, "Are you saying he'll do 'anything' you tell him to if you beat him?"

Kaden shrugged, "Pretty much, yeah. It's a Red Lombax thing. The whole time we were on Sargasso he was obsessed with repaying his 'life debt' from getting beat in the CtD. It was actually kinda creepy, especially at first."

"That's fascinating!" declared Lorna excitedly, surprising everyone who had forgotten that she was there. "It makes sense that warrior based culture would have a hierarchy dictated by combat, but isn't that kind of thing private?" she then asked. "I mean if the rest of the school knew about this, there'd be a line forming to try and fight him... well, a longer one than there is now. With us at the front," she added as she realized the irony.

Kaden thought about the question and it made his head hurt, specifically the left side.

"Nope,” he declared, free of guilt. “I don't care if every student in the Military Field takes a swing at him, though I’m sure he’d actually enjoy that."

At this Varin leaned in to whisper in Kaden's ear, "Judging by how Kor cleaned his gauntlet on your cheek fur, I'm guessing he paid his debt back 'somehow'. Are you leaving out juicy bits from your story of beating the Wigwump… and does it have to do with why most of your fur is newly grown?"

"Later," promised Kaden, intent on not giving the Tough Nuts another reason to laugh at him today.

"But that still leaves a problem," continued Lacera after having considered Kaden's words. "As much as I hate to say it, I don't know if I could take Kor one-on-one again. True, I underestimated him last time, but he wasn't exactly at full either. I never thought I'd have to deal with anyone crazy enough to use a real Inferno Mode module."

"Then make the terms of the match say he can't use it," Kaden offered simply. "He'll definitely accept if it's a challenge from you."

Lacera shook her head, "Even if that were true, I still couldn't risk it. I didn't want to tell you all this, but after I was taken down by a newly minted level 3 in single hand-to-hand combat, my specialty, I got a warning from Commander Fortis' staff. They said I'm on the chopping block now and that they are considering demoting me back down to level 3 myself."

The room was silent for a moment.

"But, level threes aren't allowed to run division clubs," said Varin. "If you get demoted, won't that mean the Tough Nuts get disbanded?"

Lacera nodded solemnly, "I won't underestimate Kor Vol'terran again, and so, I'm not willing to risk another straight on fight with him just yet."

Kaden sighed, "Then just make the terms of the match one-on-two, or, by the council, one-on-five if that's what you want. He'll still agree to it."

Lacera raised a very confused eyebrow at Kaden, "That's crazy. Who in their right mind would be willing to accept a match with such ridiculous odds stacked against them?"

"Nobody," Kaden answered flatly. "And that's exactly why the nut in the red armor will happily accept. Tell you what, I'll send him the official challenge, if he accepts, you guys can fight in the next couple of days. If he doesn't, then you can still do your Blitzkrieg thing as plan ‘B’."

After hearing Kaden's suggestion, the mood in the room seemed to lighten a bit,

"Sounds like a much better option to me," Wraith noted with a gleam of hope in his voice.

"One's own personal performance can only be truly appreciated in a quintet or less," added Torque.

However, Lacera did not seem to be warming in any way.

"What's wrong, boss?" asked Varin curiously, unable to see a downside, "What's there to lose?"

"It's just…" Lacera began hesitantly. "It seems like a waste."

"What does?" questioned Kaden, seeing his hopes of finishing this meeting early and spending the rest of his day asleep in his own bed fading.

"This," answered Lacera raising her hand to the monitors, "I mean, we just went through all that exposition. Aren't you at least a 'little' disappointed that we're not actually going to do a Blitzkrieg?"

A tidal wave of groans and irritated growls erupted from the gathered Lombaxes as each one got up from their seat.

"Oh come on," their leader pressed at the dispersing group, "I even had a plan involving a genetically enhanced super-monkey!"

Lorna stopped moving, "What?!" she shouted in surprise, before turning on Varin with a worried look, "She's not talking about Simon again, is she?! I keep telling you he’s not a combat specimen!"

Varin expression looked as if she’d just remembered something, "Oh right, so there was an ‘actual’ reason I brought you."

Lorna's following complaints were muffled as Varin pushed her out of the doorway ahead of her.

Lacera looked around at the now empty room, slightly disappointed but otherwise optimistic.

She then pressed another icon on her control panel and the monitor changed again,

*Punch, Punch… Slam*

*Punch, Punch… Slam*

*Punch, Punch… Slam*

"Hello, new screen saver," she grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit about Kaden’s suckerpunch being turned into a gif and set to the opening clap sounds of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ is a result me just happening upon a gif where someone did the same thing to a video a little kid getting smacked in the face by a door. I laughed way too hard at it and, while slightly ashamed of the amusement it gave me, I figured I’d put in the story. You can probably find it on youtube if you’re interested.


	3. The Curtains Rise

Kaden, Varin, Lorna, Torque, and Wraith all stood in the observation deck of one of the Military Field’s many combat arenas. 

This particular one had been rented out for the Tough Nuts' private use, the majority of whom were now spectators, peering down through the protective glass barrier at the two solitary figures of Lacera and Viscera on the arena floor.

“Why are they the only two fighting?” asked Lorna curiously. “I mean, if he's as blood-crazed as Kaden says, shouldn't everyone challenge him at once?”

Of the four other Lombaxes in the room, only Kaden did not laugh at the question.

“It's a legitimate question,” he noted defensively. 

He had been wondering the same thing since the moment Lacera had given him the match rules to pass on in the challenge declaration.

“Kid,” began Wraith with a shake of his head, “haven't you noticed anything 'unusual' about the Tough Nuts?”

Now it was Kaden's turn to laugh, “'Unusual?', what's 'normal' about the Tough Nuts?”

“Exactly,” smiled Varin as if his words had been a compliment. “The Tough Nuts have their own way of doing things. Like how they tend to split up during CtD matches and do their own thing, even though the game itself is supposed to emphasize teamwork and group tactics above all else. It's why Lacera didn't mind letting you go off on your own to fight Kor your way, it's why Wraith tried to take down Kor by himself,” Wraith winced at the slight jab, though Varin, for once, did not mean it offensively, “it's why Torque split off to go toe to toe with a Colossus, and why Lacera accepted Kor's challenge to a duel.”

“And?” began Lorna, still confused, “What exactly is the Tough Nuts’ 'way of doing things'?”

“A kingdom...” answered Torque, before purposefully adding a dramatic pause before continuing. “A kingdom ruled by the Mad Queen. Our Queen does not demand that her musicians perform the works of others, nor does she decree that we shall all play the same piece… she demands only that our own performances be more exquisite than any other.”

There was another pause as half the listeners waited for Torque to elaborate or for someone to explain for him.

“Um...” Lorna began again.

But, before she could ask the question, Varin finally filled in the gap, “He means that the Tough Nuts are all loners. Nearly all of us have been on other teams before, including Lacera, and that we are among the most skilled players in the Military Field, but… we don't really 'do' teamwork.”

Varin then gestured to Torque, “The big guy here used to mow down any of his own teammates that got in-between him and his targets.” 

At this, Torque smiled smugly to himself, but kept his eyes focused on his leader and her sister below. 

Varin then gestured to Wraith, “And Wraith here kept shooting any of his teammates that took his 'kills'.”

At this, Wraith pulled a wry face as if he'd just tasted something foul, “Can you even comprehend the feeling of stalking your prey, perfectly concealing yourself, for ages. Then, just before you take your prize, some blundering grunt with a rocket launcher opens up on them like a fresh-furred fuzzy who'd just popped their safety-cap?” he demanded indignantly. “In the best case, the target runs away or hides. Worst case, the dumb grunt gets lucky and unjustly gets rewarded for a simple turn of chance. Also, I still stand by my argument that my team was better off after such rookies were eliminated.”

Varin nodded her understanding and sympathy, before turning back to Kaden and Lorna with a grin, “And there you have it. The Tough Nuts are just a bunch of misfits who can't cooperate. The only reason they didn't get kicked out of CtD games altogether was thanks to the Boss,” she added cheerfully with a nod to the two figures standing on the arena floor.

Lorna scratched her chin in thought, “I see, so the reason only Lacera and Viscera are down there is because if anyone else were with them, they're just as likely to be a hindrance as a help,” she pondered with a nod of understanding. “That makes sense... in a strange, deluded sort of way.”

Varin cheerfully nodded her head, happy that her assistant grasped the situation, but then a thought occurred to her, “Wait a second,” she said, eyeing Lorna suspiciously. “Why are you here?”

“W-what do you mean?” replied Lorna in surprise. “I'm here to watch the match, what else?”

Varin shook her head, “No, I mean, we probably won't need our monkey-themed back-up plan after all, which means Lacera won't shoot you if you try to leave now... probably. So why are you still hanging around?”

“Oh, that,” said Lorna, quickly understanding what Varin was getting at and consciously ignoring most of what she’d just heard, “While it's true that anyone who wants to keep their fur attached to their body should keep as far away from you guys as possible... after Kaden assured me that Kor Vol'terran is, in fact, a Red Lombax, I just had to know more. Red Lombaxes are such an extreme societal and genetic offshoot from lombax kind that they are basically mythological!”

At this Kaden groaned with exhaustion, “Yeah, she kept me up all night, linking me with questions about Red Lombaxes. Most of which I don't even know the answer to, like ‘how many chromosomes do they have?’.”

Varin raised an eyebrow at the two of them, “You two shared link addresses?” she asked, pointing her finger from one to the other for emphasis.

Lorna nodded, “Of course we did. This whole time I thought all the talk about a 'Red Lombax' at Nova was just more stupid gossip, but when Kaden spoke about Kor at the meeting, as if he were real, it sounded much more convincing, so I wanted to ask him personally.”

Kaden huffed indignantly, “She tracked me down after the meeting, once we all went our separate ways, then she just started asking question after question about Kor. In the end, I just gave her my NID link… maybe that was a mistake in hindsight,” he added with a half-real yawn to emphasize his lack of sleep.

Lorna didn't seem to mind whatever insult Kaden may have been insinuating and instead turned her attention back to Varin with a suspicious look, “Either way, what's it to you?” she questioned.

Varin suddenly averted her gaze and then pretended to wipe away a tear, “It's nothing,” she said with a fake sniffle, “I'm just…  so happy to see the children I taught and raised getting along with each other.”

Kaden's expression drooped and he rolled his eyes, “You've only been my 'practical-lab supervisor' for half-a semester. Once I turn in my lab report next month, I'll no longer even be that.”

Lorna then took an aggressive step forward, her eyes wide with outrage, “And I'm ‘older’ than you!” she declared indignantly.

But, Varin simply shook her head sadly, “Children never appreciate their parent’s love. But, no matter how big you get, or far away you go, you two will always be my little-”

“Enough...” growled Torque, his eyes still fixed on the arena below, “The dance is about to begin.”

At this, all eyes turned to where Torque's were and they watched as a solitary, red-armored figure walked confidently into the arena and onto the combat floor.

* * *

Kor walked down the hall towards the designated combat arena in the Military Field. His manner was calm, but his mind, inside his newly repainted, red helmet, was buzzing. 

It had been from Kaden that this challenge had come and Kor knew to expect anything. The thought filled him with both excitement and, he now recognized, terror. The excitement was almost too much.

While he had, ultimately, been hoping for something like this to happen, once he had finally figured out how to open his NID mail and discovered a direct letter of challenge from Kaden within it, he was caught completely by surprise. 

The challenge had come less than a day after they'd arrived back on Fastoon, less than a day after he'd been told they'd never face each other again. 

The thought that he might get a second chance to settle things once and for all with his tan-furred rival, seemed almost too good to be true. However, the idea that his impulsively-executed suckerpunch may have achieved its goal so excellently gave him conflicting feelings. It had not been his proudest moment.

As the armored Lombax entered the arena, he eyed every corner with suspicion, expecting some kind of trap or trick from every shadow. Then he realized what awaited him.

_ 'Too good to be true, after all,' _ he thought as stepped out onto the arena floor.

Kor studied the two figures opposite him in the room and immediately knew what they were. The challenge letter had specified that, should he accept, he'd be fighting two opponents at once. 

The Lombax warrior had found this odd, as Kaden seemed the type who did not work well with others, but it had not bothered him. It would only make the victory all the sweeter if his opponent had an advantage.

Clearly, however, neither of the two Lombaxes before him were Kaden. This was… disappointing. 

But, as Kor started to recognize the faces under his alleged opponents' helmet visors, he began to grin under his own.

To his left, stood the slightly taller of the two. Her figure and face were unmistakable and Kor felt a slight rush of exhilaration as he recalled their last meeting. 

His fight with Lacera Suraisu had been equal parts brutal and elegant, but more importantly, evenly matched. His triumph over her was a point of pride for him, even now. He still cherished the customized combat pistol trophy that he’d kept to remember it. Even if he couldn’t use it.

She was armed with her usual weapons, the twin KatomniWrenches that had caused him so much grief and pain. 

The other figure, slightly shorter, but very similar in many ways to her sister, was Viscera Suraisu. Though, had she not been standing next to her sister, Kor might not have recognized her so quickly. 

True, the younger sibling had managed to surprise him during their first encounter and had even scored an impressive blow against him, but their fight had been quick, one-sided, and almost entirely in his favor.

Kor remembered vividly the array of sharp blades that the young warrior had seemed to be able to produce from thin air, which made it all the stranger when he spotted her weapon. Piercing and cutting objects were prohibited in this battle, so he did not expect her to wield them, but instead of an OmniWrench of a similar style that her sister used, Viscera Suriasu stood in the shadow of a six-foot LongniWrench, held firmly in her grip.

The LongniWrench was designed to give maximum leverage when turning bolts and in combat acted like a spear or pike. It was long by itself, requiring two separate handles located in both its center and its rear, but Kor knew that it could extend even further if its wielder desired. 

It was a slow and powerful weapon, not at all suited for the quick movements favored by either of the Suraisu sisters. But this made him all the more wary of it.

Still in thought, the red-armored Lombax came to a stop just before a red line on the floor. This marker indicated where competitors were to stand before the match begins.

“Are the two of you to be my opponents?” he called out in his familiar, metallic voice.

“That’s right,” answered Lacera, unable to keep a slight undertone of malice from her otherwise formal answer.

“I see,” replied Kor quietly, more to himself, “I had been expecting... someone else,” he then added, slightly louder.

Lacera raised an eyebrow at him, “It’s hard to tell from that bargain-bin android voice of yours, but if I didn’t know any better… I’d say you sounded disappointed?”

Kor did not reply at first. Instead, he hefted his Malleus wrench and rolled his shoulders to loosen them, “That… remains to be seen,” he answered at last.

A sideways snarl cracked angrily over Lacera’s mouth, reminding anyone who saw it of a block of ice splitting violently under pressure. However, she did not retort, the etiquette from having previously been defeated by this person holding her back.

Instead, her sister replied, “What's the matter?” questioned Viscera in a playful voice, “I thought having a go at two ‘beautiful’ women was every man’s dream?”

Kor tilted his head to one side as he studied Viscera curiously, “Beauty has little to do with it,” he replied, not really getting what she meant. “I had merely been hoping to settle an… unresolved issue.”

“Lot of that going around,” noted Lacera, still put off by Kor’s earlier comment.

“Hmm,” he grunted metallically, seemingly uninterested in whatever she was implying. He then lowered himself into a combat stance and prepared himself, “then let us begin.”

But Lacera just shook her head, “Eager, huh?” she countered, still relaxed and unreactive. “I usually like that in a guy, but aren’t you at all curious as to ‘why’ we challenged you?”

“No,” answered Kor flatly.

If one were to look closely, they would be able to see the bulging veins on Lacera’s forehead peeking from under her helmet, even through her fur, “Do you even know the rules of this match?” she then demanded, frustration plain in her voice.

Kor nodded his armored head once, “Of course, they were listed in the challenge message: Two against one, wrench-class CQC weaponry only, defensive armaments limited to unenergized armor plating. Now… let us begin,” he pressed impatiently

Lacera growled under her breath, but held her irritation in check, “We can’t start until our official observer from the Military Field shows up... so you can just take it easy until then.”

Kor did not move at first, clearly suspecting something, but, after a moment, he sighed and relaxed his stance. Though, he did not let down his guard.

After it was clear that neither Kor nor Lacera were interested in saying anything further, Viscera decided to speak up again, “You have something that belongs to us,” the younger sibling declared challengingly.

Kor did not react at first, instead, he simply tilted his head like he usually did as he considered the words.

Then, slowly, he reached an arm behind him and retrieved his Vibro-knife from where it was sheathed across his lower back. The red-armored Lombax then raised the weapon up to eye level and turned it in the air, allowing the light to bounce off its brilliantly pristine surface.

“I do not carry the pistol with me,” he began, his glassy eyes still fixed on the blade before him, “But I have grown rather fond of this knife. It has been remarkably… efficient. Even after what it went through under the surface of Sargasso, it still shines as magnificently as the day I removed it from… Well, as the day that I ‘obtained’ it.”

Viscera nodded and smiled to herself at Kor’s last comment, “Yes, I have heard that you’ve been putting it to…” she glanced briefly toward her elder sister then back to Kor, “good use.” Viscera’s expression then became serious, “After this match, you’ll be answering for what you stole.”

At this, Kor finally turned his eyes away from the Vibro-knife and looked straight at Viscera, “I will return this blade to you with my knees on the floor and my head bowed… if you can ‘make’ me.”

Viscera grinned widely, “I ‘very much’ like the sound of that.”

Any further pre-fight bantering was cut short as the three combatants heard the sound of grumbling coming from the hallway outside of the arena.

The words were muffled, but spoken loud enough to be heard, “Stupid, council-condemned grudge fights. Over a thousand full-time instructors at this academy, but ‘no’. It’s always, ‘make Ragnin do it’. What is it this time, two morons fighting over some girl that doesn’t like either of them… again? Or, someone accused of stealing food from the communal fridge... the answer is always the fat one!”

The owner of the voice then turned the corner and walked informally into the arena. His eyes were scrunched together and sunken as if he lacked sleep and his grumbling continued as he marched forward. He didn’t even bother to look up as he did so.

The elder Lombax reached the edge of the arena, at a point between the two combatants, and opened up his digipad, reading it as he spoke, “Alright, my name is Sergeant Ragnin and I will be the overseer of this match. This is a Military Field sanctioned grudge match between Kor Vol’terran and the two-bax team of Lacera and Viscera Suraisu. The rules are two on one…

But Ragin trailed off as he doubled back over what he’d just read, squinting even harder, before rubbing his weary eyes for good measure.

Once he was sure he’d read the words correctly, he finally looked up. 

First, he stared at Kor, then to the Suraisu sisters, then back to his digipad.

Slowly, his eyes lost their exhaustion and a wide smile split his face, “My day just got ‘way’ better. It’s so nice to see the youth today having a healthy thirst for blood and vengeance,” he noted cheerfully. “Anyway, let's get this started!”

Ragnin cleared his throat and stood up straighter, looking more official now and ‘much’ more interested, “I’m sure you all know the rules, but as a formality: this will be a two-combatant team vs a single combatant grudge match. All participants will use weapons classified as blunt, melee-combat only, in other words, ‘wrenches’. There will also be no use of energized defensive capabilities. Anything you wear must be defensive only in the way of its stable-state molecular makeup. Please stand still while the combatants are scanned.”

When Ragnin paused, he pressed something on his digi-pad, and a large glass dome lowered itself from the ceiling. Over the next few seconds, a softly-luminescent line of light projected from the dome and swept the area, passing over all three Lombaxes in the ring.

Then it froze on Kor.

Ragnin gave the heavily armored Lombax a look, “No unauthorized weapons allowed in the ring, son. Even if you don’t plan to use it.”

Kor didn’t react at first, then he realized that he was still holding the Vibro-blade in his hand. With a slight bow of his head as a way of apology, he resheathed the blade and then detached the sheath itself from his back, before then placing the weapon outside of the ring.

Once he had returned to his starting position, the scanner resumed and this time passed over each contestant without incident. The dome then retracted back into the ceiling and Ragnin got a positive notification on his digi-pad.

“Alright then,” the Sergeant continued. “The requirements for victory are the same as in any ‘ring’ match. If your opponent is knocked out of the ring or just ‘knocked out’ you win… or if they give up. However, contestants should remember that loss by forfeiture means that public distribution of video depicting you begging for mercy is mandatory by Military Field policy.”

Ragnin then pointed a finger at Kor, “In your case, both your opponents must be disqualified individually. If you render one of them unconscious and they come back around ‘before’ you can take down the other, the fight is still on.”

Ragnin then turned to the two sisters, “And you two, if one of you is knocked from the ring, or says anything that could be construed as giving up, sarcasm included, you’re disqualified and cannot rejoin the match. Understood?”

As he asked this, he also looked back at Kor and all three combatants nodded their head to show their understanding.

“Good. Any last words of provocation?” he asked, with a hopeful eye towards Kor.

The two sisters were silent, but the armored Lombax grunted a mechanical noise and rose to the expectation, “I pray you two fight better as one, than either alone.”

The words hit Lacera and Viscera as if they’d had physical weight. All pretense of civility and formal order was washed away as they both bared their teeth and growled their aggression openly.

A gleeful smile cracked the corners of Ragnin’s face, “Excellent… Begin!” 

The spoken word triggered the start of the match, instantly causing the ambient lighting of the arena to shift from pure white to tinged red, leaving no room for doubt that the combat had begun.

Whether it had been their plan from the start, or a result of Kor’s goading, nobody knew, but the moment Ragnin had officially started the match, both Suraisu sisters tore off down the center of the arena as fast as they could.

Outnumbered, Kor chose the safe course of action and took a step back, lowering himself into a defensive crouch, and preparing for the onslaught. 

Lacera was the first to reach him. 

Without her jet boots, the tan-furred Leader of the Tough Nuts did not cross short distances as quickly as she was used to, but by no means was her speed slow.

She closed the gap between them in a blink of an eye, coming in low, and didn't even break her stride as she brought both her KatomniWrenches upwards in twin uppercut strikes.

Kor sidestepped, dodging one attack completely, while simultaneously raising his wrench to block the other. 

In the same motion, he continued lifting his wrench, blocking the rapid follow-up attack of Lacera’s first KatomniWrench before the echoing clang of the second being blocked had even faded from the air.

Her attacks continued relentlessly, a flurry of glinting metal, as they struck at Kor from every angle with mind-numbing speed.

But the besieged Lombax was unfazed. He was already familiar with his opponent’s lightning quick attacks, having experienced them first hand in their previous fight. 

With an icy calm, he parried each strike, allowing himself to be pushed back, giving up ground in order to avoid even a single hit of the onslaught. At least, until he felt his opponent commit to another double swing.

Seizing the opportunity he’d been waiting for, Kor jumped backwards, sliding easily out of his attacker’s reach. 

At the same time, he let his wrench naturally follow him, trailing his movement like a tail, until it was completely horizontal at waist height. Then he thrust his weapon forward with a powerful push of his arm.

Lacera had been surprised when her target suddenly seemed to disappear from her reach, but not as surprised as when his long Malleus Wrench shot forward an instant later, its reach was far greater than hers, and it struck her cleanly in the abdomen.

Air was forced from her lungs, but she gave testament to her skill by pushing back reflexively. Doing so, she narrowly avoiding the grip of Kor’s wrench as the heavy prongs of its head snapped shut around where her waist would have been had she not.

Kor’s thrust had been made from far enough away that it did not have the force to knock her down. However, once the rush of adrenaline she’d used to escape the worst of the strike had passed, the tan-furred warrior doubled over in pain.

Kor saw this and took a step forward to take advantage of his opponent’s state, but something instinctual made him hold back. 

Before he could even wonder what had caused his unease, the head of a LongniWrench cut the air in front of him, just inches from his chest.

The armored warrior felt his stomach churn as he noted the precision of the attack. 

Pole-wrenches were not particularly powerful, but when swung with the full extent of their arc, they can build up an intense amount of force. Had Kor’s instincts not given him pause, he would have taken a direct hit from such a full swing.

The knowledge that he had just barely escaped a serious blow, a mere few seconds after the fight had begun, sent waves of exhilaration through Kor’s mind and pumped even more adrenaline through his veins. 

He grinned under his mask. It was clear that his opponents had come prepared and they most assuredly would not disappoint.


	4. Cut to the Kor

Kor didn’t have time to relish his good fortune at having found such a worthy challenge, as Lacera was already rounding on him again.

Her moves were much more fluid this time as well. The speedy leader of the Tough Nuts would come at him and take a few strikes, then slide back out of reach, before coming in again at a different angle, leaving no openings for her opponent to exploit.

Between this new fighting style and the speed with which she had miraculously recovered from his last attack, Kor suspected that the leader of the Tough Nuts had taken his wrench on purpose so as to give her sister an opening.

Yet again, however, he could not dwell on the thought. This time because he noticed a powerful thrust from Viscera’s LongniWrench spearing its way toward him from just outside his peripheral vision.

Kor dodged the attack by pivoting on his heel and turning his body until he had a clear view of both sisters.

Lacera’s rapid and slippery attack patterns were clearly trying to draw his full focus on her and away from her sister, thus hiding the danger she represented. But he was too experienced for that and had been expecting the attack the whole time.

His easy evasion was proof of that.

Having foiled their strategy, Kor simply put up his guard and readied himself for the next salvo.

Seeing that their ploy had failed, it was Lacera who backed off slightly this time, allowing her younger sister to charge forward instead. 

The moment Viscera was in range she opened up with a storm of spear thrusts. 

Kor knew what to expect when he’d first seen the oversized weapon, but was still surprised to find just how much harder these strikes were to block than Lacera’s, the weapon being much, much heavier than those of the elder Suraisu’s KatomniWrenchs. 

He was also not used to fighting anyone whose weapon had a longer reach than his. He quickly found himself becoming frustrated by the lack of opportunity for a counterattack as he was both assaulted and kept at bay by the wrench’s long reach.

While Viscera’s barrage kept Kor busy, Lacera tried her hand at fading from view. She was the more dangerous of the two sisters and so more likely to demand their opponent’s attention, but she was also much more agile with her nimble twin KatomniWrenches. 

Normally, she would have watched the fight carefully and, the moment her target blinked, she would disappear from their perception and attack from out of sight. 

However, Kor’s eyes were hidden behind his mask, so she was forced to try a more subtle approach, backing off while her sister unleashed her full strength on him until she was simply forgotten. 

Not that Lacera could easily attack anyway. 

Her younger sister’s long-reaching weapon gave many advantages, allowing her to strike from a safe distance and attack in wildly hard to predict patterns, but this also meant they were harder to control. 

Lacera herself would be at risk if she approached the fray carelessly, as any attacks that she made with her short-reaching KatomniWrenches would likely get caught in the LongniWrench’s crossfire. 

When Lacera was to make her move, it would either have to be aimed directly at her target’s back, or to take advantage of an opportunity that was worth taking a bit of friendly fire over. 

And so, she watched her enemy calmly, waiting for the right moment.

* * *

Kor’s focus was on Viscera as he battered back each strike of his opponent’s long weapon, not giving a single inch of ground as he did so.

A physically demanding strategy, but one that promised to pay great dividends if he succeeded.

Viscera’s LongiWrench gave her quite an advantage when it was just wrench on wrench, but it was clear to him, after just a few exchanges, that the young Lombax who wielded it was inexperienced in its use. Her strikes were too wild and inefficient. He could feel her endurance waning already and knew that all he needed to do was be patient and outlast her.

As Viscera’s movements began to weaken and slow, Kor matched the decreasing pace of the attacks, giving his opponent the false impression that they were evenly matched. 

He continued this ruse until felt a sufficient lull in the timing of her strikes that told him she was sufficiently winded.

Then, Kor swung his own wrench forward to counter the latest incoming thrust. Unlike his previous few, however, this counter strike was sent forth with his full strength. 

The two massive wrenches collided in mid-air, sending sparks flying through the air as the painful ring of metal on metal chimed across the arena. 

As they clashed the two weapons’ momentums countered each other and seemed to be matched for an instant in time. 

But then Kor’s Malleus Wrench began to proceed onward, pushing Viscera’s weapon back toward her with much more force than her tired arms could resist. 

The sudden reversal forced her to take a step back, giving ground and weakening her balance. At the same time, the heavy weapon was poised awkwardly and even if there wasn’t a great weight pushing on it, she would need at least a full half-second to get her it back under full control.

Satisfied with the effect it had, the red-armored assailant pulled back his wrench, before taking a powerful step forward, like batter stepping into a pitch. His heavy weapon was swinging through the air as his heavy foot came down. 

But just as the armored boot made contact with the floor, Kor spun himself on its heel, turning completely around and angling his swing’s trajectory along with him. 

The weapon cut a menacing trail through the air, reaching outward and up in a wide arc that circled his turning body, before being brought back down in an overhead axe swing, cutting a small groove down the center of Lacera’s helmet, before burying itself in the ground with a spray of dust and concrete.

The elder sister’s eyes widened in shock and she lurched backwards sharply, reflexively putting distance between herself and the attack that had nearly caved-in her skull.

Her heart raced, slamming painfully against her chest, as she looked at her enemy through the ugly scar in her visor. 

Lacera was confident in her skills. She was sure that her prey could not have known precisely when her attack was coming. The only explanation was that he had simply guessed.

The action was reckless. Had his timing been earlier, he would have been left wide open to her attacks. Too late and her attacks would have landed before he’d even turned. It could have cost him the match.

The fact that he had almost pulled it off said a great deal about either his sharp warrior instincts, or his ridiculous luck.

Grinding her teeth in frustration, Lacera also noted the timing with which Kor’s strike had been off. It had been early, meaning that the red-armored Lombax had been expecting her to take advantage of the situation sooner than she had actually done. 

While the likelihood was low, the elder Suraisu couldn’t shake the feeling that her opponent had once more expected better from her… and had been let down.

Kor eyed Lacera for a moment, half expecting her to charge in again at any second, but she did not. To his rear, he felt more than heard Viscera recover from his surprise attack and he was forced to turn away as the younger sister redoubled her assault.

He grumbled within his helmet at having lost his gambit. Lacera was now less likely to charge in again, knowing that he could not be made to forget about the lurking threat she represented, but he also couldn’t deny the difficulty of watching both her and her sister at the same time. The latter of which vehemently demanded his attention with her reinvigorated flurry of rapid and long-reaching strikes.

As the warrior of Magnaron weighed his options, he lost sight of Lacera from the corner of his eye once more, making his decision clear. He needed to change tactics. 

Kor knew that he could no longer remain on the defensive, so he caught Viscera’s next thrust squarely on the shaft of his wrench, absorbing the impact with his arms, before shoving back with as much force as he could muster, straining hard to push even his limits. 

Viscera’s attack was not just beaten by her own fatigue this time, she was simply overwhelmed by Kor’s superior strength. She fought hard against it, but her guard was broken regardless and the butt of her weapon was shoved toward her chest, forcing her to turn away, lest she be lanced by her own wrench.

Without a LongniWrench in his way, Kor lowered his shoulder until his body was parallel with the ground and then charged forward.

Viscera, still trying to bring her weapon back around, was caught in the gut by her opponent’s flying shoulder plate. She strained to keep from expelling anything more than air from her mouth as the wind was knocked from her lungs.

The force of the impact was so great that she was lifted off her feet and into the air, as if being gored by a bull.

Once all of Kor’s momentum had been transferred to Viscera, the young warrior felt the hard press in her stomach give way, leaving behind only a residual ache. Through that instant of relief, she realized that she was still airborne and desperately tried to get her arms beneath her to cushion her fall.

She collided with the ground a moment later, her face scraping the arena’s surface as she turned her fall into a roll.

The impact was rough, but she managed to come to a stop on her stomach and with her arms underneath her. She then quickly pushed herself up from the ground, intent on retaliating, but was instead slammed back down by a heavy boot.

Viscera twisted her neck painfully until she saw the looming figure that stood over her. It was wearing a mask that obscured its features, but she could still clearly picture the eager grin on the face underneath it.

Kor pressed his foot down harder as his opponent reflexively tried to fight against it.

As Viscera continued to struggle beneath him, he slowly raised his heavy wrench high above his head, preparing for a finishing blow.

From the corner of his eye lens, Kor could see the surprised expression on Lacera’s face as the elder sister charged towards him. Her cautious demeanor after her near-death experience had caused her to react slowly to his sudden bull rush and cost her dearly. Now she was too far away to reach her sister in time.

With a sharp flick of her arm, Lacera sent a spinning KatomniWrench whooshing through the air, covering the distance between its thrower and its target in a fraction of a second.

Kor spotted the glint of the approaching projectile, but he simply turned his body in anticipation. The flying weapon struck him in the shoulder, putting a groove in his metal hide and sending a thudding pain through his muscles, but otherwise, it glanced off him without causing serious harm. 

He happily accepted this minor damage though, knowing that it was well worth the reward. He continued to raise his wrench higher.

* * *

Lacera watched as her opponent shrugged off the attack, knowing immediately that her first wrench would not accomplish its task, but she had anticipated the move and had thrown her other weapon before the impact of first had even rung out.

Kor caught sight of the second spinning wrench coming at him and the eager grin on his face at having snared Viscera doubled in size.

Without hesitation he broke off his attack, spinning his body away from his victim’s prone form in order to evade the KatomniWrench, which he did easily.

But, by the time the weapon had sailed past him, he was already stampeding his way toward Lacera. He didn’t care about losing the opportunity to eliminate the younger Suraisu, it was the eldest sister that represented the biggest threat. Now that she was weaponless, he would press this advantage.

Lacera wore a surprised look when she saw Kor suddenly ignore Viscera and turn his full attention on her, but it soon changed to one of relief. 

With the tables turned, she immediately stopped her forward movement, coming to a halt with her boots grinding against the arena floor, before crouching down into a defensive stance.

Her opponent arrived to meet her an instant later and he wasted no time chopping straight down with his massive wrench.

Without a weapon of her own, Lacera’s only choice was to evade and she did so with grace, turning her body and sidestepping the heavy swing.

But Kor had anticipated this and had already released a hand from his wrench by the time the weapon struck the ground and quickly brought the free hand up, attempting to backhand his opponent in the head.

Lacera put her arm up just in time to intercept the strike and she felt the impact of Kor’s gauntlets striking her vambraces.

She had used both her arms to brace for the hit, but even so, the force was incredible and she felt her boots scrape across the floor as she was pushed back by it.

Kor didn’t hesitate to press the attack. Using his other hand he quickly readjusted the grip on his weapon and swung the large wrench sideways in a one-handed cut.

The leader of the Tough Nuts saw the strike coming, but was still holding off her opponent’s fist. Thinking quickly, she pushed off of the heavy hand, using its crushing force to her advantage to quickly bend over backwards, arching her spine until her face nearly touched the floor.

The deadly Malleus wrench sang through the air, completely unobstructed, save for the soft clink it made as it lightly glanced off the corner of Lacera’s armored waist buckle.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Kor pressed even further, kicking out hard with his heavy boots to try and cut his opponent’s legs out from under her. But once again, he found only empty space where his target should have been.

Lacera had allowed herself to continue falling, using her arms to guide her, as she put her weight on her hand and brought her legs up into a full somersault.

As he saw this Kor’s initial irritation quickly turned to excitement. His opponent’s eyes were off of him now and her line of trajectory was easy to track.

With a mighty roar, the red-armored warrior brought his wrench up high into the air, before swinging it downward at the point where his opponent’s head would be in just a moment.

The Malleus Wrench struck and sparks lit up the arena as its progress was brought short by the haft of a LongniWrench.

Kor blinked in confusion as he looked at the familiar weapon. Then he raised his gaze slightly to find the form of Viscera, several feet away. 

The young warrior was on her knees, still in the process of picking herself up from his previous attack, but her arms were outstretched as if having just slid something across the ground.

A ferocious mechanical snarl rippled from Kor’s helmet as he realized what had happened and turned back to Lacera. 

Still growling in anger, the red-armored Lombax lifted his weapon, before quickly driving it back down. 

Yet again Lacera blocked it, but the force of the impact was almost as bad as the first, which she had yet to recover from. 

Her joints groaned painfully in protest of the strain they were put under.

But Kor’s intention was not to overpower Lacera directly, rather simply to stun her long enough to change targets.

The leader of the Tough Nuts recovered from the blow just in time to see a flash of red disappear from her peripheral.

While Kor was still tempted to press his advantage on Lacera, he didn’t want to leave the younger Suraisu unattended. Now that ‘she’ was the weaponless one, she’d be a simple target to eliminate, leaving just her older sister to deal with. It would be difficult, but Kor knew from experience that he could beat her one-on-one.

Viscera’s eyes widened as she saw the armored warriors form turn on her. She got up to her feet as quickly as she could and began to backstep rapidly, unwilling to turn her back on the incoming juggernaut.

She had barely managed to make it two paces before he was upon her. His heavy wrench was coming down already, even as he stepped into range.

But Viscera didn’t flinch. She took one final leap backwards, forcing Kor to extend his attack one extra stride, giving her just enough time to reach up and pluck a spinning KatomniWrench from the air as is was sailing back towards its master.

The grace with which the move was executed caused Kor to hesitate a mere fraction of a second, but it was enough time for his target to bring the small wrench down and swipe it across the head of his own.

The lighter weapon was no match for the Malleus, but the blow was just powerful enough to stunt the larger weapon’s course. 

The heavy head of Kor’s wrench only managed to scrape a groove through the armor of Viscera’s abdomen, before passing on through. Once again, without having done any serious damage.

In the same motion, Viscera spun herself around and snatched the second KatomniWrench as it followed the first, before reflexively bringing them both up in a defensive stance.

By the time she had settled into her pose, Kor’s weapon was already swinging at full force towards her. The red-armored Warrior knew that even with both wrenches, his opponent could not stop his Malleus Wrench straight on.

But, by the time his attack landed, Viscera was gone.

Kor’s mouth opened in surprise for a moment, before memories flashed into his mind as he vividly recalled the lightning-quick blades his opponent had wielded the last time they’d faced.

On instinct alone, his body rotated on one heel and brought his heavy wrench close to his side.

The hastily raised guard was instantly met with sudden force and a sharp clang rang out as Viscera attempted to drive the tip of her KatomniWrench up and under Kor’s breastplate, at the weaker joint where the armor made way for his hip.

Kor looked down at his assailant.

Viscera’s eyes were wide beaming up into his glass lenses, “You remember me!” she squealed in delight, her evil grin twisted with elation.

The armored warrior’s only response was a harsh, static-ridden growl from his speakers as glared hard at Viscera’s sadistic features. 

More memories of their last encounter flooded back into him. The last time she had pulled this move, he’d limped away with a Vibroblade buried halfway to its hilt in his abdomen.

Almost in reaction to the painful recollection, Kor pushed his opponent away with his weapon.

In that last encounter, he had retaliated while the inexperienced Viscera was reveling in her lucky strike. That counter-attack had ended their fight, but Kor doubted it would play out the same way again.

More importantly, though, he wasn’t just fighting the young Lombax this time. A point that was made all the clearer when the large head of a LongniWrench suddenly cut the air between the two of them.

Kor turned to face the elder Suraisu and the leader of the Tough Nuts met his gaze. Unlike her sister, she was not grinning in excitement from the thrill of the fight. Instead, her lips and eyes were set in cold focus.

There was a brief, almost imperceivable moment where the two combatants acknowledged each other, before they both brought their heavy wrenches around to clash in a spray of sparks. Then they both pulled back in unison and did it again.

By the third collision of metal, Kor was already fully aware of how superior Lacera’s skill with a LongniWrench was to that of her sister’s.

The elder Suraisu did not emphasize any single part of the weapon as she sent blow after blow into him, using the wrench’s head, neck, or butt with equal skill and lethality.

Kor quickly realized that he would not be able to wear down Lacera like he’d done with her sister. It was taking him almost as much effort to keep her long-reaching, and widely varied, attacks at bay as it was taking her to make them.

However, Lacera wasn’t as suited to wielding heavy weapons as her opponent was. The Tough Nuts’ leader’s greatest asset had always been her speed and using the unwieldy LongniWrench had robbed her of it.

It wasn’t long before Kor finally got his enemy’s measure and the wide array of attacks that he was forced to defend against quickly shrank to a limited number of predictable moves and patterns.

With practiced ease, the red-armored Lombax sidestepped a spear thrust and caught the long weapon behind its head with the neck of his own. 

Lacera fought to pull her weapon free, but Kor simply tugged it forward, forcing its wielder to come with it. At the same time, he drove his knee up into her stomach.

While Lacera had managed to extend her arms to escape the worst of the strike while still maintaining her hold on her weapon, but she couldn’t help but take a solid hit to her gut and her body bent reflexively.

This was enough for Kor. He disengaged his Malleus Wrench from his opponent’s weapon and brought it across his chest, swinging for her head.

Before it could make contact, however, a swift KatomniWrench struck its neck, swerving its trajectory completely off course. 

Kor didn’t have time to curse himself for not seeing the attack coming, because a second KatomniWrench was already whistling towards his head.

The armored warrior backstepped reflexively, evading the strike. He then dodged and blocked a series of follow up attacks.

Viscera was every bit as quick with the twin wrenches as her sister, perhaps even more so, but her skill and experience was still lacking. 

Kor beat back every attack as they came, each one being intercepted further and further from their intended target, until his heavy Malleus Wrench forced an opening in his opponent’s guard that he thrust forward into, aiming for her neck.

The strike would have been devastating too, if the head of a LongniWrench hadn’t suddenly appeared from behind Viscera and collided with it.

Kor’s thrust had been a quick jab, it lacked any sort of power that would be necessary to take out a body part much harder than the soft flesh of a throat. As such, the full force of the LongniWrench’s counter-thrust drove the Malleus Wrench straight back, twisting its wielder's wrist awkwardly, before being pressed against his armored chest.

Viscera didn’t even flinch as the two weapons collided just inches from her neck. 

Instead, she immediately took advantage of the opening created in Kor’s defense to swing at his head with both KatomniWrenches.

Kor managed to catch the first strike with his armored forearm, causing pain to shoot down to his bone, but ultimately he managed to block the attack from doing much worse damage.

The same could not be said for the second, however. Kor’s other arm was still tangled in his wrench’s handguard and the large weapon itself was still pinned to his chest by Lacera’s surprise counterattack.

With no other options, Kor was forced to dive backwards, escaping the second KatomniWrench with just a tiny scratch carved across his metallic mask’s cheek.

The increase in distance from his opponents also freed his weapon and he hit the floor with practiced ease, rolling away from any further attacks of opportunity, before coming back up to his feet, ready to fight.

The Suraisu sisters wasted no time in pressing their advantage. 

Viscera appeared, as if from thin air, and was hammering away with her two wrenches before her target could even take a full breath.

Kor’s skill was still superior and he more than held his own against the onslaught, but every time he retook the momentum in the fight, Viscera was always waiting, one thrust or swing away from stifling it.

Gone now were the underhanded attempts to strike from their opponent’s blind spot and take advantage of their numbers. Instead, the two sisters fought incredibly in sync, complimenting each other's strengths while covering for their weaknesses.

Using their sibling’s wrench of choice also seemed to do little, if anything, to impede their effectiveness. So much so that Kor began to question if they had purposely started with the wrong weapons just to throw him off.

It soon became apparent to him that he was no longer fighting two separate opponents, but rather a single entity with four arms and three wrenches.

This combination attack was brutally effective. Preventing him from doing much more than strike glancing blows, while his opponents managed to land some rather serious hits to his joints and body.

Frustration began to knot the armored warrior’s unseen brow as he pressed onward, redoubling his efforts.

With a sudden burst of movement, Kor slammed his wrench hard against Viscera’s KatomniWrenches, pushing the younger Suriasu backwards.

This time, when the inevitable follow up attack by her elder sister came to meet him, he smoothly moved backwards and to the side. 

Lacera, expecting to land another blow, had overcommitted to the thrust and her balance was thrown when Kor moved past her weapon, aiming a swing at her side.

With no way to bring her wrench back in time, the besieged Lombax released her hold on it and evaded the incoming attack.

However, she didn’t retreat backwards as Kor had expected her to. 

Instead, she stepped into his guard and drove her foot up and into her opponent’s stomach.

Kor took the blow through his armor and tightened his muscles against it, unwillingly to let even a small breath of air escape his lungs.

But the attack was ultimately a failure. Even before he’d fully recovered from the kick, Kor had his wrench raised and poised to strike.

Lacera saw the incoming weapon, but was in no position to evade it.

For a moment, it looked as if she had gone insane in the tense moment when she raised her unarmed hand, as if to block his attack with an invisible wrench of her own.

Kor pressed on undeterred, though.

Just as the Malleus Wrench was about to connect with its target, a spinning KatomniWrench flew into Lacera’s outstretched out hand. 

She caught the weapon so smoothly, it caused Kor to question whether it had actually been there all along.

The KatomniWrench caught the Malleus Wrench and was pressed hard into Lacera’s chest.

The leader of the Tough Nuts strained against the weapon, using every ounce of strength her arms could muster to hold off the wide jaws of the large wrench from wrapping around her neck.

Kor strained as well, surprised by how well his advance was being fended off. It was clear that this fight was beginning to take a toll on his endurance. 

This was all the more reason to finish it quickly, but he wouldn’t do so in this exchange.

Viscera’s reacquired LongiWrench came swinging in from Kor’s peripheral just as he knew it would. 

Gritting his teeth against the desire to press his attack, the red-armored Lombax finally relented and pushed himself off of his opponent, just in time to avoid the long swipe of the incoming weapon.

With a wary eye on her opponent, Viscera helped her elder sister back to her feet, before handing her the second KatomniWrench.

The combatants then stared each other down, each taking a moment to breathe and reassess their situations.

Kor grunted in dissatisfaction, but ultimately he knew there was little else he could do now, besides simply wear his opponents down and hope that the first match-ending mistake would by theirs.

Hefting his weapon, the armored warrior lowered his stance in preparation for the next exchange of blows. As he did so, he slid his foot back to give himself better leverage, but then the world seemed to suddenly go quiet.

Intense awareness of the area around him came screaming into his head. He didn’t dare take his eyes off of his two opponents, but in his mind’s eye, he could clearly see the arena in which they stood. He could also see just how close to its edge he was.

The fur on the back of his neck began to rise, reacting as if there were a hungry Ice Creeper lurking behind him. Its massive jaws, with its icicle-looking teeth, held open wide and waiting for its prey to come close enough to bite.

He returned his focus to his opponents. Both returned his stare, though they couldn’t be sure. 

Lacera, with her cold and focused expression, held her KatomniWrenches at the ready, while Viscera with her wildly twisted grin, hefted her LongniWrench out in front of her.

Kor took a deep breath.

Then he bolted for their side, hoping to get around them. 

Just as he feared, however, Lacera appeared in his path, intent on stopping him from reaching their flank. 

But just because he’d been hoping that it wouldn’t happen didn’t mean he wasn’t prepared for it. He was already swinging forcefully at her by the time she’d arrived.

With no time to evade, Lacera was forced to block, but the sudden and powerful attack broke her defense, causing her arms to fold towards her as they tried to absorb the shock. One of her KatomniWrenchs was knocked loose from her grasp.

Before Kor could take another swing at his now single-wrenched opponent, a LongniWrench intervened, catching his weapon before it could be used.

The defense was expected, but, in Kor’s mind, late. Viscera had taken the time to go around her sister, rather than make her move straight at Kor. Serving to both further box him in and to further cement his inferences as to their strategy.

His priority now was to get out of the corner into which his opponents had put him, so rather than retaliate against Viscera, he sidestepped her next attack and moved to go around her.

As he’d both hoped and feared, Lacera rolled around her sister as well, cutting him off from escape, but, on the bright side, it was also before she’d had time to retrieve her first wrench.

Once more, Kor had already swung his heavy weapon in a powerful arc at where he predicted his opponent would be and, once again, Lacera put up her weapon to block it, but it was missing its twin now. 

Even with both hands gripping the single KatomniWrench, the heavy Malleus Wrench brushed it aside like it wasn’t even there and Kor finally landed a meaningful blow.

The Malleus Wrench’s head drove straight on through to Lacera’s chest armor and dug a deep dent into its metallic plating, before sending the Lombax herself backwards into the ground.

Kor saw his opponent was open to attack, but he had to fight for patience. He knew he had one more obstacle to overcome before he could truly be free. He then immediately threw up his wrench to block said obstacle’s incoming strike.

The moment the LongniWrench’s head collided with his Malleus Wrench, Kor pushed his weapon up, hard, forcing the LongniWrench thrust to go over his head.

At the same time, he stepped into the inexperienced wielder’s guard, before pulling back his own wrench and quickly swinging it once more, ready to cut Viscera in half.

With her heavy weapon in hand, there was no way for the younger Suraisu to avoid the attack... so she released it.

With a great shove, Viscera both launched the LongniWrench over Kor’s head while also pushing herself downward. She practically had to sprawl herself onto the floor to avoid the incoming Malleus Wrench.

Kor was impressed by the maneuver, but knew it was desperate. His opponent was now weaponless again and he wasted no time in bringing his wrench back up for a follow-up strike.

Just as the swing was about to connect, an instinctive sense of danger set off alarms in the red-armored Lombax’s head. They were caused by the fact that he hadn’t yet heard the clatter of the LongniWrench hitting the ground. 

Mid-swing, Kor pivoted hard on his heel and pulled his weapon back. 

More an act of ducking around his weapon, rather than pulling it in front of him, he managed to get its guard up just in time to intercept the full swing of Lacera’s attack.

A sharp clang rang out from where the LongniWrench struck the Malleus Wrench’s neck and sparks trailed Kor’s path as he was sent skidding backwards across the arena floor by the force of the blow.

Managing to keep his feet under him, the armored warrior ground to a halt a short distance away.

When he brought his eyes back up, ready to engage the follow-up attack, he found his opponents regrouping instead.

Lacera threw her single KatomniWrench to her sister, who was cautiously reaching down to pick up the fallen KatomniWrench from earlier.

Viscera both caught and picked up the wrenches simultaneously, before smoothly bringing them back together into a defensive stance. 

The two Suraisus squared with their opponent once again and Kor reflexively lowered his stance in preparation, but, as he threw his leg back to give himself a better foothold, the arena went quiet once more.

The perception of the area around him became the focus of his mind and, when he felt the eager anticipation of the Ice Creeper at his back this time, he realized he was several paces closer than before.

This left absolutely no doubt in Kor’s mind. He wasn’t just being attacked and worn down… he was being corralled. The two sisters were pushing him to the edge of the arena with the hopes of victory by ring out.

Looking back, Kor saw that with each series of attacks they had made, they’d been slowly been forcing him to give ground. Two steps here, one pace there, small increments always, but they had quickly added up. 

A tingling of worry poked the back of besieged Lombax’s mind, but this concern quickly burned away as frustration and anger within him surged. He could feel his muscles tighten as his fury slowly took over and his conscious mind willingly gave way to its strength. 

He had concluded that retreating back was clearly not an option and he already proved that his opponents would not simply allow him to escape around them.

That left only one direction.

Kor’s next attack came so suddenly that it almost overcame Lacera’s own razor-sharp reflexes. The powerful thrust of the Malleus Wrench had been aimed at her head, but she quickly countered it, driving her own LongniWrench into the oncoming strike.

Just as she was feeling relief at having saved her face from certain mutilation, the long weapon in her hands was pulled downward painfully. 

Kor had intentionally caught her wrench in his weapon’s jaws and had closed them tightly around it before twisting hard, pulling her off balance and closer to her opponent.

Lacera looked up into the lifeless eyes of her enemy as he drove both their wrenches into the ground at his feet. At the same time, he released his weapon with one hand. The limb’s armored elbow seemed to follow the neck of the LongniWrench, as if on a track, straight up to its wielder’s face.

The elder Suraisu managed to turn her head in time take the blow on her cheek, rather than straight to her muzzle, but the hit was still painful and dizzying. She was more concerned about seeing her weapon being taken out of commission, though.

However, the concern quickly passed. If this had been a one on one fight, she’d have been left open to a series of her physically stronger opponent’s unarmed follow-up attacks… but this was not one on one.

Viscera had seen the sudden opening created in Kor’s defense by his attack and she rushed in to take advantage of it. As if only just now seeing her, the red-armored warrior turned his full attention on her.

He was wide open, like a chess move that took a queen but left the king defenseless. 

A slight flicker of disappointment brushed Viscera’s thoughts as she realized how easily he had been driven to desperation by their tactics, but it was quickly washed away by the adrenaline of her next attack.

She swung with both KatomniWrenches in a wide arc straight at her opponent’s red-armored head, grinning eagerly with anticipation for the feeling of their impact.

With preternatural instinct and speed, Kor twisted his body backward, releasing his wrench altogether, and dodging the first of Viscera’s wrenches.

The younger Suraisu was surprised by the seemingly inlombax movement, but she was undaunted. Her second wrench was swiftly following the first and with a slight, reflexive tilt, she readjusted for the new position of her target's body and sent it on an unavoidable course.

There was no way Kor could move his body in time to evade this hit… and so he didn’t.

Reaching up with his metal-plated hand, the red-painted warrior caught the incoming wrench head squarely in his armored palm.

A loud thud of metal on metal-encased flesh sounded from the site of impact as the shooting pain of tearing muscle and breaking bone was sent screaming down Kor’s arm.

The hit was brutal and he knew that his hand would be useless for the duration of the match, but, when the attacking weapon’s momentum had been fully absorbed, he grinned wickedly within his helmet.

Viscera’s mouth hung open in disbelief, causing her to hesitate as she tried to comprehend what she’d just seen. 

In that same instant, her opponent pulled with his shattered hand, broken fingers still twisted around her KatomniWrench, and with it came her arm.

The next thing she knew, an armored knee was being driven with monstrous strength up into her stomach.

Her slack jaw was forced open even wider, saliva and a few flecks of bile spraying from it.

In her dazed state, the younger Suraisu brought her first KatomniWrench back around, trying desperately to counterattack, but Kor easily caught her wrist this time, stopping the swing dead in its tracks.

With both his arms now interlocked, the red-armored warrior pulled back his head and Viscera had just enough time to widen her eyes in recognition and surprise, before the emotionless, metal mask came flying down to meet her face.

The sickening crunch of cartilage echoed around the arena as Kor drove his metal forehead into his opponent’s muzzle. Blood sprayed from her now crooked nose, painting his armor an even darker crimson, and he grinned in his helmet, watching as her dazed expression fell away.

But then… his sight vanished.

It wasn’t just the sight of Viscera he’d lost either, but the whole arena had gone dark.

Kor suddenly found himself lost in an empty blackness, unsure of where his enemies were or what danger he was in. 

At first, he had believed this to be some sort of trick, a concealment device used against the rules or some tampering with the arena’s lighting. 

As he tried to consider these possibilities, however, he found that darkness was not just in his eyes, but also in his mind.

His thoughts felt dim and groggy. They were slow to form. He could clearly contemplate the vague concepts of what he wanted to think about, but not much further.

After trying his hardest, but receiving no success, cold fear began to grip his mind. He felt not just the sense of possible defeat, but the ‘increasingly familiar’ sense of not even knowing why or how.

Then an image came to his thoughts, one that had been recently burned into his eyes, but had been too blurred for his addled mind to recognize properly. 

It started as an image of Viscera’s falling face, a part he remembered, but that wasn't all. 

As he watched, the image began to move, very slowly at first. 

Within this slow-moving image, he saw the gargantuan head of a LongniWrench as it gracefully scraped over the top of Viscera’s helmet, before flying onward toward his face, until it filled the entirety of the image itself.

It was at this moment that Kor’s body finally hit the floor, crashing down with a painful clatter of armor. It was only then that the red-armored Lombax finally realized he had been airborne this whole time.

Reflexes and muscle memory took over as he continued to slide across the arena floor. His limbs acted on their own, digging his shoulder into the ground and allowing him to turn his fall into a roll. 

A moment later he came back up, with his shaking legs beneath him.

His muscles shook from the shock he’d received, but the shaking suddenly stopped when he felt the heel of his boot kiss empty space. Empty space that marked where the arena floor came to a halt.

The rest of the room was still dark to Kor, but his eyes were slowly turning the pitch blackness into shadows. He lowered himself into a defensive stance and raised his fists reflexively, but was unsure of what he could do at the moment.

Even as light began to poke through his dim vision, his sight was mostly filled with the memory of the LongniWrench head as it struck him.

He had not seen the weapon coming at all, but he knew he had kept awareness of his peripherals at all times, even in his enraged state. He simply couldn’t comprehend how he’d been caught off guard.

But then the image played itself once more across his half-blinded eyes and he watched again as it slid smoothly over the top of Viscera’s falling face, gently kissing her helmet and brushing aside her bloody cheek fur. 

The attack hadn’t come from his periphery at all, he realized, it had come from directly behind his opponent’s head. 

The force of the impact denied any belief that the swing had started its course ‘after’ his headbutt, but that could only mean that the strike had been aimed with Viscera’s head in its path.

A wave of cold water shot through Kor as he realized this truth. He did not know if Lacera had predicted his moves, or if this attack pattern had been planned by the two sisters beforehand, but either option meant that the younger Suraisu had been sacrificed to land this hit.

Had there been even one small error, had Viscera withstood Kor’s attack better or had his strike come a moment later, his opponent’s skull would have taken the brunt of the LongniWrench’s powerful swing. 

The same strike that now left his fully armored head spinning in disarray.

Light rapidly poured into his vision as it finally cleared. 

One eye revealed little though, other than the shattered web of broken glass that made up his now useless eye lens. 

Lines ran across his other lens as well, but through this cracked window, the shadows that formed his opponent came into view and Kor watched as Lacera heaved her heavy LongniWrench back, ready to throw it at him.

Kor’s stance lowered as he quickly prepared to dodge the weapon. If the heavy object connected now, he’d be pushed out of the ring and the match would be over.

But then his sight cleared completely and he recognized a second form. 

Viscera was standing just to the side of her sister, her face still bleeding profusely, but she eyed him with a vicious and hungry grin.

Brief confusion passed through his mind as he noticed that the younger Suraisu was standing in the way of her elder sister’s incoming swing, but, no sooner had the thought entered his mind, then he witnessed Viscera jump into the air.

The young warrior’s timing was perfect and Lacera’s LongniWrench came around just as she was level with it, striking the back of her heavy boots with a resounding clang. 

Sparks flew as the airborne Lombax was suddenly propelled forward by the force of the strike.

Inside Kor’s impassive mask, his eyes widened in surprise. The impact on Viscera’s feet must have sent shockwaves of pain up through her body, but her twisted grin did not even flinch.

But none of that mattered now. 

The strange tactic had caused Kor to hesitate and he realized his mistake too late. It would have been simple to avoid a thrown LongiWrench, its narrow profile gave it limited range, but the full body of a Lombax was something different.

Kor shifted his weight, ready to sidestep, but he saw Viscera heft her twin KatomniWrenches midair. Any move he made risked putting him off-balance and leaving him open to her attacks. With his stability still having not returned to him fully, he dared not risk it. 

Instead, he lowered his stance and put his arms out to his sides. 

Kor only trusted the one hand at the moment, but with it, he would catch his attacker’s wrist as she swung at him and pivot to avoid the other. He would then throw her from the ring, eliminating her from the match. It was his only chance.

But Viscera saw this move and her wicked grin widened even further, her eyes glinting maniacally. In an amazing display of acrobatics and body control, the young warrior twisted her body midair until her legs were in front of her.

Kor barely had time to register the quick position change, before a pair of heavy combat boots slammed into his raised forearms.

His legs were planted and his stance was strong, but his limbs were tired from the fighting and weakened by the brutal strike to his head. His defense crumpled under the weight and the back of his arms were slammed into his chest.

Though none could see it, Kor’s face was a twisted mess of surprise and disbelief. He never even felt his feet leave the arena floor. 

His mind grappled for some way to make sense of what had just happened, desperately looking for an answer... when his back slammed into the hard ground.

Somewhere in the distance, a loud, blaring buzzer rang softly in Kor’s ears and the dim, ruddy redness of light that had illuminated the arena turned back to a standard white.

“Victors:,” Ragnin yelled officially, “Lacera and Viscera Suraisu!”

Kor was only vaguely aware of the Sergeant’s words. 

All at once the battle rush drained from his body, leaving his bones and muscles to moan in pain. Their suffering matched only by the pounding of his head.

Through the spiderwebbed veins of his one working lens, he looked up to see his opponent’s wild grin, reflected a dozen time in its cracked glass. She sat atop him where she’d landed, straddling him victoriously in a show of complete domination.

Viscera never took her eyes off of Kor as she turned her head and spat out the wad of blood and white tooth fragments.

“You hear that?” she growled coldly through broken teeth. “You lost. That means you have to listen to what I say, right?”

Through her elation, the younger Suraisu felt the body underneath her suddenly go taught again. For a second, she feared a retaliation was coming, but a moment later the tension melted away and Kor’s muscles resigned themselves.

“The defeated,” the masked warrior crackled slowly, as if the words themselves caused him pain, “has little right to argue.”

Kor’s head then turned slightly and he spotted the resting form of his Vibroblade in its sheath. Nothing hurt more than his pride at that moment, but the thought of losing the immaculate blade still stung enough to be felt. He had grown rather attached to it since ‘receiving’ it.

Briefly, the defeated Lombax lamented his decision to fight two on one, but quickly shook the thought from his mind. He had lost the fight, that was all there was to it.

As Kor turned his head back to face his superior, he prepared himself to hear her demand for the return of the blade and the small blaster he’d taken from her sister.

But Viscera simply eyed him thoughtfully for a moment, clearly savoring her victory. 

Then, she leaned her own face closer to his, “You... will marry me.”


	5. Just... Issues

Every single observer in the balcony stands had been pushed to the edge of their seats by the incredible display of skill that played out before them.

Lorna had been the first to stand fully and begin inching her way closer to the glass window. She was followed closely behind by Wraith as the combat began to heat up.

It wasn’t until Kor attempted to break free of his cage, knocking one of Lacera’s KatomniWrenches away and sending her flying in the process, that Varin stood up as well.

Torque, ever vigilant in his role as a stoic audience member, did not flinch at any of these events. That was, until Kor drove his leader’s weapon into the ground before catching Viscera’s KatomniWrench with just his hand.

Kaden was the last to remain in his seat. He had watched the fight below him with keen interest, but he wasn’t surprised at all to see his long-hated enemy reverse the tide of the battle in some ridiculously showy way.

He did, however, take note of how quickly Lacera had managed to extricate her wrench from the ground and also of how she didn’t hesitate to send it flying toward where her sister and her opponent were still entangled.

His brow had furrowed in confusion for a moment, believing that the attack had been one executed out of desperation and reflex, as it was clear that Viscera was going to take the brunt of the hit.

But, as the heavy LongniWrench slipped smoothly over the younger sister’s head and struck Kor full on in the face, Kaden leapt from his chair and ran to the window, becoming the fifth and final face to be pressed up against its glass.

The young tan-furred Lombax watched in amazement as the red-armored menace was slammed backwards and nearly crested the edge of the arena floor before coming to a stop.

Kaden had come to the match eager to see a Tough Nut victory, but he had to catch himself and quickly bury the strange relief he felt when Kor seemed to recover from the incredible blow and get back to his feet.

Something was wrong though. Kor wasn’t reacting to the counterattack, he simply held his hands up defensively and remained still. This was completely unlike him.

As Kaden continued to watch, Lacera wound up her wrench for another attack. The thought  _ ‘get away from the edge’  _ reflexively entered his mind and he had to consciously force the mental words to change into  _ ‘get him while he’s stunned’ _ .

When the match had finally ended and the room’s lighting flashed back to white, it was greeted by a stunned silence all around. 

Varin was the first to break it by shouting, “That’s my girls!” at the top of her lungs before turning on her heel and dashing for the exit of the stands.

Roused by Varin’s reaction, Wraith, Torque, and Lorana all chased after her and the four of them spilled out onto the arena floor seconds later. 

Only Kaden remained, still staring in disbelief through the glass.

* * *

When Kaden finally came down to the arena floor, everyone was standing around in silence.

The mood of the side-lined Tough Nuts was starkly different than what they’d had when they’d left the observation deck. Instead of congratulating their champions, they simply stared at where Viscera was still straddling Kor.

“I’m… *cough*, sorry?” came Kor’s confused and static-laden response as he lay on the ground. The pain he felt was evident through the croaking sound of his metallic voice, but confusion seemed to be the most prominent in his tone.

“Yes, Viscera,” added Lacera as she approached the two of them, looking very unhappy, “care to repeat that, little sister?”

Viscera did not turn to look at her sister, and her wide grin shrunk slightly, but did not disappear. She then straightened herself up, though she did not get off of Kor, “I have decided that you, Kor Vol’terran, are a worthy mate and that you will marry me.”

Kor tilted his head slightly, still unsure of the situation, “I think I misunderstand. In Demari culture, what does to ‘marry’ mean?”

Viscera nodded dutifully, “It means that we will be bonded for life both emotionally and physically for the purpose of mutual support and to produce children.” she explained in a completely serious tone. “Lots of children.”

“I see. Nevermind then,” replied Kor, realizing that the situation wasn’t a cultural misunderstanding after all. 

He then nodded once to show his understanding again before answering, “I refuse,” he stated simply.

“What?!” spluttered Viscera in shock. “I defeated you, therefore you’re honor-bound to do what I say, right?”

Kor’s armored and emotionless face then turned sideways to look straight at Kaden, who had by now arrived with the rest of the group, many of whom were looking confused, amused, or a mix of both.

“You were the one who revealed my people’s traditions to this girl?” he questioned. His dissatisfaction was clear even in his artificial voice.

Kaden shrugged, “Well... yeah, but is ‘that’ really what you’re concerned about right now?”

Kor sighed a mechanical breath and then turned to address Viscera again, “Then he has failed to mention that one can only owe their life and servitude to someone if they lose a battle ‘to the death’. This was a two-on-one, weapon restricted, ring out sparring match. I’d hardly view that as a justification for losing one’s tail.”

This time Viscera turned her head to Kaden and eyed him angrily, “Did you know this?” she demanded.

The tan Lombax wore a dumbfounded look and shrugged his shoulders, “I guess, in hindsight. But I ‘thought’ we were after your weapons and pride, or something. Not marriage proposals.”

The sudden bang of a blaster shot rang out across the arena floor and made everyone in the room flinch. The group then turned as one to find a stone-faced Lacera holding a smoking pistol pointed at the ceiling.

“That’s enough,” she growled at them.

Sergeant Ragnin, who had also joined the group of onlookers, leaned over to the nearest student, in this case, Varin, “Where was she keeping that pistol? The scanners said she was clean.”

A second shot then rang out, this time blazing a bright trail cleanly over Ragnin’s head and between his ears, missing fur by only a few inches.

Lacera had not taken her gaze off of her sister, meaning the shot had been fired blindly. 

Ragnin’s expression soured, but he considered the intensity with which Lacera stood and her reputation for over the top violence regardless of consequences. While he had his reputation and authority as a grizzled commanding instructor to enforce, he also had his tail to protect.

“You’re lucky I want to see how this plays out,” he grumbled quietly before folding his arms and glaring.

Lacera, paying him little mind, then aimed her weapon at her sister, “What are you thinking, Viscera?” she demanded threateningly. “He is our enemy. He has brought dishonor to our clan, to you! Have you forgotten what happened?”

“You don’t understand!” Viscera protested resolutely. She then turned to look down at Kor, staring deeply into his cracked glass eyes and putting her hands over her chest, “When we fought each other in the Depot prelims, he didn’t just stab me in the thigh, shoulder, and through my lungs… he also pierced my heart.”

There was a wave of confused expressions that appeared on the faces of almost everyone in the room as Viscera turned back to her sister and continued, “At first, when he didn’t know my abilities, he was cautious. But, when he realized that I wasn’t even close to his skill level, he didn’t even hesitate to crush me. Such cold callousness… not even mother has ever fought me with such brutality! Then, after he threw me from that window, not even bothering to watch me fall, I ‘swore’ then and there, before I hit the ground, that I would ‘make’ him look at me. Both as a warrior and as a woman!”

At hearing these words, Varin grinned happily, “I totally called this,” she said with clear self-satisfaction.

Kaden turned his now perpetually confused expression towards her, “How could you possibly have seen this coming? There was hardly any time for foreshadowing!”

Looking quite pleased with herself, Varin puffed out her chest, “Backstory, my dear Watson,” she quoted, in a way that Kaden was sure was meant to be mocking him. “The Suraisus are a matriarchal clan of warriors. Besides sharpening their skills and gaining combat experience, every female from their family sees it as their duty to seek out worthy partners to bring into the Bloodline.”

“Oh?” chimed in Lorna, suddenly more curious than confused. “I didn’t know there were still any powerful clanships left on Fastoon? What’s it like?”

“Yeah, I’d like to know too,” added Kaden, a little irritated that Varin had useful lore that he didn’t.

Lacera growled angrily, drawing everyone's attention back to her “Later,” she insisted, intent on resolving the issue at hand first, though she had no real intention of answering questions later either.

“Puh, you don’t know about the Suraisus?” scoffed Ragnin as if he hadn’t heard Lacera’s warning. “It’s one of the oldest bloodlines on Fastoon. Their record for producing skilled warriors is so legendary that Nova Academy has a standing policy of accepting all applicants with the Suraisu name into the Military field without question.”

“This is no time for a history lesson,” Lacera insisted further, but with much less malice than her previous statements. It was clear that she was pleased with the compliment that the Sergeant had placed on her family name.

“No!” countered Viscera, looking to her sister with a serious expression on her face. “This is a perfect time! If Kor is to be my betrothed, then he should know about the family he will eventually marry into,” she insisted, as if the matter was already a foregone conclusion. “Maybe he would be more enticed if he knew what clanship entailed?”

Lacera titled the barrel of her still outstretched blaster downward, until it pointed at the still prone form of Kor. She scowled with dissatisfaction, before glancing at the rest of the assembly and noticing more than a few curious faces.

With an irritated sigh, she relented, “Fine, as eldest of the clan present, I will relay our history and creed. The short version at least.”

Lacera then lowered her weapon and took a deep breath in preparation for the long exposition to come, “Our clan has been a bloodline of warriors since before the Lombax age of technology. However, before we were united as one, our people were divided into many tribes.”

“Our ancestral lands, consisting of the Valley of Suesh and its surrounding areas, were isolated from the rest of the world by tall mountains on one side and a treacherous desert on the other. Fighting between the tribes over what few resources were available was intense and brutal. Even if one did not wish to fight, they had no choice as there was nowhere else to go. This life of constant war is what hardened our people into what they are today.”

Despite her words to the contrary, it was very clear from the way Lacera spoke that she felt great pride towards her family’s history. It was obvious that her reluctant decision to tell their story in such an odd situation was influenced heavily by a desire to do so herself.

“Eventually,” she continued, now getting into the groove of the story, “one tribe began to question these ways. The elders of Tribe Suraisu realized that, while pillaging the few hunting grounds and mountain runoff rivers in the valley allowed them to save their numbers from long, drawn-out conflict, it was also inefficient. The best way to ensure the future of their tribe was to instead take these valued lands and hold them, using them only for their own and preventing all others for partaking in its bounty.”

“Territory disputes were common, but most tribes were nomadic in nature, taking only what they needed and moving on before full war broke out. If the Suraisus were to claim land permanently, they would have to contend with dozens of enemy groups all seeking to raid their provisions. At the same time taking the effort to build fortifications would anchor them to a location. Should the natural resources of the area be used up, their people would be too weakened to easily raid another, especially if the other tribes saw them as a threat and would go out of their way to hinder them.”

“Knowing the difficulty they faced, a decision was then made by the tribe chieftain. He proclaimed that they would need to absorb or ally with other tribes in order to have the strength to fend off all others that would come for their land. To gain another tribe’s obedience, however, they would need something to offer in return.”

Lacera’s expression darkened as she paused to prepare her next words. Off to her side, Viscera glowered as well, knowing what was coming, “The leaders of Suraisu decided to use a new resource, one coveted by all men of every tribe… they offered women in exchange for loyalty.”

Taking a second to let this sink in, the leader of the Tough Nuts studied the faces of her audience. All seemed caught off guard by her words and none dared to say anything in response. 

Even Wraith, whom Lacera had expected to make a snarky comment about whether her ancient clan had a different definition for what a ‘woman’ was, remained silent. 

Lacera’s grip on her pistol relaxed slightly in disappointment and she continued to speak, “The strategy worked better than expected. At first, the Suraisus sold their own daughters, like livestock, to some of the strongest tribes with which they’d had a friendly relationship. Some were offered into political marriages that weren’t all that uncommon back then, but most were simply gifted in exchange for oaths of loyalty.”

“Eventually, once their ‘stock’ had run dry, the Suraisu tribe began attacking smaller tribes. With the help of their allies, they were easily able to overwhelm and annihilate them, slaughtering the men and capturing as many women as possible. These enslaved prisoners would then be gifted out as the ‘spoils of war’ to their warriors or offered to entice further alliances with more tribes.”

“This success began a brutal cycle, one through which the Tribe of Suraisu either eventually decimated or absorbed every other tribe in the land. There were even a disgustingly high number of tribes who willingly offered up their daughters and wives for a place in the Suraisu’s growing empire. Whether they did this out of greed or fear, it didn’t really matter. The results were always the same.”

“It wasn’t long then, before the Tribe of Suraisu had claimed nearly all of the resource-rich lands for their own. The men of the original Suraisu Tribe, now calling themselves the equivalent of kings and noblemen in their new empire, finally had their utopia.”

“But…” Lacera continued, changing her tone from one of disgust to righteous indignation, “men are stupid.”

This statement elicited several nods of agreement from the female readers… er, I mean listeners.

“Drunk on their victories, these men never realized the folly of forcing tribal women, who had fought as warriors both alongside and against men their whole lives, into positions of servitude. The King especially was said to have been the most greedy and had taken at least one wife from amongst the most beautiful women of every tribe he’d conquered.”

“One night, while celebrating the ‘greatness’ of their empire, the men of Suraisu went to bed, inebriated and joyful, alongside their favorite wives… never to rise again.”

“Most of them had their throats slit in their sleep, but there are tales of more ‘inspired’ endings as well. Horrific poisons, which forced their victims to suffer greatly while rendering them unable to scream, were used on the most hated of ‘husbands’. Stranglings and bludgeonings were also common amongst the wives of the more cautious men, ones who frequently checked for hidden blades and poisons amongst their harems.”

As Lacera retold this particular part of the story, many of those listening noted the disturbingly cheerful way in which she did so.

“Regardless of the method, however,” she continued, “the outcome was the same. In a single night, one that was forever known afterwards as the ‘Silent First Strike’, every single original member of the Suraisu Tribe was eliminated.”

“That wasn’t all, though. To ensure that this hated bloodline was eradicated in its entirety, the mothers of Suraisu even put their own children to the blade. They did this with a heavy heart, eliminating their sons before they could one day grow into vile men like their fathers, also while saving their daughters who would know only a lifetime of servitude and suffering as a childbearing slave.”

“With these gruesome deeds complete, the ‘Silent’ First Strike then became loud. Using whatever they could get a hold of for weapons, the wives of Suraisu slaughtered the servants, the guards, and any man they came across... as well as any women who did not take up arms with them.”

“Some say that the final act of defiance committed on that night was the burning of the newly built castle of arrogance that the men of Suraisu had constructed, a lavish playhouse for themselves and their ‘spoils of war’. But, anyone who truly paid attention to the stories knows that the ‘true’ final act of these women was actually their first one.”

“While many had fought bravely, none could escape the heart of Suraisu power. Those that could not fight or those that were overwhelmed and failed to die in battle were captured by the empire’s soldiers… once the men finally got their tails on straight. However, the slow-acting poison that had been taken by these ‘former’ women of Suraisu, ensured that none survived to see the following sunrise.”

Not giving anyone time to dwell on the story so far, Lacera immediately turned to Kor, who was still lying on his back, “And that’s who the Suraisus are,” she declared both proudly and like a threat. “We will not be tamed, or broken and we’ll kill anyone who tries, even if our death is assured.”

This made clear what Lacera had foremost in her mind when she’d decided to tell this story. She obviously hoped to scare Kor away with her tale.

However, in response, the prone form of Kor simply shrugged his armored shoulders, “Your men died because they were weak and arrogant. They were fools not to acknowledge your strength and they paid the price for it. Nothing more.”

Viscera beamed happily at his response and turned back to her elder sister with a look of utter vindication. 

Lacera’s expression was a scowl, but not an angry one. It seemed that she too liked Kor’s answer, but clearly didn’t want to.

“Wait a second,” broke in Wraith, his face creased in confusion. “If all the Suraisus died in this ‘First Strike’ thing, then how is there even a Suraisu Clan still?”

Lacera sighed in minor annoyance before returning to her story, “After the palace was burned, along with most of the empire’s ruling class, chaos broke out amongst the alliance of the Suesh Valley. The great empire that the Suraisus had created was one forged from dozens of individual tribes, many of which had fought against each other in the past. Without singular leadership holding them in check, they all quickly regressed back to clawing at each other's throats, desperate to take what remained of the empire for themselves and fill the void left by the Silent First Strike.”

“Again… men are stupid,” Lacera reiterated.

“While debates, arguments, fighting, and backstabbing took place in the land’s capital, word of the what the women of Suraisu had done spread throughout the valley. So busy were the leaders of the tribes with fighting one another for scraps that when they finally returned to their lands, exhausted from their struggles, they barely made it over the thresholds of their homes before they were cut down.”

“You see, during the years of war that had been waged to create the Suraisu Empire, where the male warriors slaughtered each other on both sides, while most females were captured and enslaved, the number of women in the land rapidly outgrew the number of men. In their arrogance, the leaders of the tribes saw this as a good thing. Fewer men and more women meant more wives for them to enjoy for themselves.”

“Before modern communication, it took days for messages to reach each tribe’s land and by the time any desperate messenger reached their neighbors with a warning, the ‘Bloody Second Blow’ was over.”

“Sadly, not all of the men were killed during this time. While the so-called ‘nobles’ had many wives and were easily overcome, the average footsoldier was lucky to receive even one. And, while the women outnumbered the men, they were still ill-equipped to retaliate, as nearly all forms of combat weapons were forbidden to them.”

“Instead, the wives of the tribal heads had conspired with women from the rest of the tribe to escape their lands once their husbands had been exterminated. In the ensuing chaos left by the deaths of those in charge, nearly every non-tailed Lombax escaped into the night… or died trying.”

“What came next was known as the ‘Weary final War’.”

“While the men of the crumbling empire still firmly held onto the most resource-rich territories in the land, there were still many places to survive in the thick forests that covered the lower mountain ranges. It was here that the women escaped to and it was here that they stood against any attempts by the men to reclaim them.”

“Yet again… men are stupid,” Lacera pointed out yet again, ensuring all were aware of the theme of the story.

“Once the confusion of the Bloody Second Blow had died down and the tribesmen realized what had happened, the first thing they did was fight for power… again. This time, however, they eventually managed to reorganize themselves and new leaders emerged.”

“Fortunately for the women, these new leaders were just as arrogant as their now deceased predecessors. Seeing the First Strike and Second Blow as acts of weakness, since they had been executed when the mens’ guards were down and with the women fleeing to the forests after, the newly reformed empire marched out eagerly to reclaim ‘what was theirs’.”

“Little did they realize that many of the women who had escaped and survived hailed from amongst the last tribes to fall. They had long since learned to live and fight in the forests as they had been forced to when their people attempted to hide from the Suraisu Empire’s insatiable hunger and greed. They would not be easily taken a second time.”

“In the years following the Bloody Second Blow, many expeditions were mounted into the forests to capture the escaped women and every one of these ill-fated bands returned to the valleys with fewer men then they started with… and usually just as many women.”

“Their numbers having been decimated further, the men eventually became cautious and Weary Final War earned its name. The stalemate became a war of attrition.”

“But, time was on the side of the women.”

“The men still controlled the most resource-rich lands in the Suesh Valley, the areas filled with soft, fertile soil, crossed with clean water runoffs from the mountains. These were the only places crops could be reliably grown and livestock abundantly raised. However, the reason no single tribe had managed to take control of these lands before the Suraisus was because of how difficult they were to defend.”

“Having forgotten this in such a short time after the Suraisu reign, the men were helpless against the stealthy attacks of the women raiding parties. The female warriors set their crops alight, slaughtered their livestock, and poisoned their drinking water from its source in the mountains where they hid.”

“However, the greatest advantage held by the women was the one given to them by birthright. They were the only ones who could produce heirs to replenish the ranks of those fallen in battle.”

“While there were a few dissenters amongst the women, girls who had been too afraid or delusional to rise against their male masters, these instances were far too few to matter. Each woman took nearly a year to birth a child and, with the significant loss of prenatal knowledge that seemingly no man had bothered to learn, the chances of a healthy birth were low amongst the imperial villages.”

“Even when the besieged men ‘did’ manage to capture a female from among the rebels, she rarely assisted with the arduous and delicate task of growing another lombax being inside of them. I’ll leave what that entails up to your imagination.”

“On the other hand, nearly all of the women who had escaped to the forests and mountains were capable of bearing healthy children. What’s more, they could use just one or two males to copulate many times. The captured men were unneeded after that and could be... disposed of without issue.”

“Life in the forest was not easy or conducive to childbirth, but by the time the first generation of those born during the war had come of age, it was clear which side could sustain the heavy cost of such fighting and which could not.”

“Despite these clear signs, however, the men still refused to back down and so the war went on.”

“Finally, by the time the third generation had matured to adulthood, the only strategic holdout left to men was the poorly rebuilt remains of the old palace, and the capital city around it.”

“The women then laid siege to the city, slaughtering any man who tried to escape and starving those who stayed. Eventually, the men offered a peace treaty, even going so far as to simply beg for the chance to leave the land and brave the harsh desert instead.”

“Their offer was refused and those that did not die of hunger or disease, were each put to the blade when the capital was finally taken, leaving the ancient land of the Suesh Valley finally free of the male scourge and rightfully in the hands of its true rulers!”

Lacera raised her head high as she finished her tale, a wicked gleam of satisfaction in her eyes as she spoke the ending. Her look of pride was mirrored in her sister’s expression as they both felt a sense of glory and nostalgia from the tale of their family’s history.

“But that doesn’t even answer my question?” Wraith demanded angrily, after the shock of Lacera’s recounting had passed. “If the Suraisus were evil and all of them were killed, ‘why’ is your clan’s name Suraisu?!”

The leader of the Tough Nuts turned away from her thoughts and cast an irritated glance at her subordinate as she tried to figure out what he was talking about.

“Oh... right,” she eventually grumbled in realization and apparent disinterest. “Well, it’s not really the most inspirational part of the story. It’s even a little controversial, but there ‘is’ a good reason for it,” she mused.

“After the Bloody Second Blow, when all of the women who’d rebelled had escaped to the mountain forests, and after they had chosen their leaders, the question of how to identify themselves came up.”

“The females with the highest survival rate during the Suraisu conquests were those of the tribes who willingly submitted to it, betraying their fellow tribeswomen and enslaving them before they had a chance to defend themselves. Because of this, most of the survivors were unwilling to retake their family names.”

“Of the few who had survived capture and servitude when their people were destroyed, plenty desired to retake their own names, but they also felt sadness at knowing that they were the last of their bloodline.”

“Eventually, it was decided by the leaders that all of the women of the Suesh Valley should stand together under one name, unifying them in their cause and purpose. Names held great power in people’s hearts, so the decision of what to call themselves was as important as it was difficult.”

“It was then that one of the new leaders of the female rebellion had a thought. There was already a name out there, one known and feared by all in the land… one that they knew no longer had a single drop of blood to carry it onward.”

“While some dismayed at the thought of carrying the hated name of Suraisu on their shoulders, none could deny the power it granted them. The men of the united tribes knew next to nothing of the Silent First Strike and only those women who had been close with the wives of Suraisu knew of their coming plan or of the fact that none survived that night.”

“The burning of the imperial palace had consumed nearly all evidence of the bloodshed, including the bodies of those within. When word came through the rank and file of male warriors that the rebel women were now declaring themselves Suraisus, discontent swirled like a plague.”

“Fear that survivors of Suraisu, the most powerful tribe in the land, might be commanding the opposition hindered morale in nearly all cases. In the worst of cases, rumors began to spread of how this whole rebellion was some kind of plot by the Suraisu tribe all along. Some began to believe that the Suraisus had purposefully weakened them by pitting the tribes against each other in their conquest, all while sneaking in women assassins to slay their leaders when the time was right.”

“Eventually, all the women of the Suesh Valley accepted the name Suraisu, content with the idea that it meant they hadn’t just simply taken lives of their hated enemies, but that they had taken their very namesake as well.”

“By the time the Weary Final War was finally over, there were more women who’d grown up under the name Suraisu than hadn’t. It had truly become ours and remains so to this day.”

As silence fell on the arena, and it became clear that this was the end of the story, a slow round clap began. It started from Viscera and was hesitantly taken up by everyone else, though partially because they all feared Lacera’s temper should they not show their respect.

All in attendance hesitantly applauded the victory of the Suraisu Clan, all except for Lorna who wore a deeply confused expression on her face. 

Unable to contain herself for long, she took a step forward and opened her mouth to speak, but was instead cutoff by Varin’s hand grabbing her shoulder.

The younger Lombax, who acted like she was the elder of the two, just shook her head with a knowing smile, before turning to Lacera, “Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked with a smile. “It’s probably the most pertinent part right now.”

Lacera scowled darkly at Varin, but considered her words. With another scornful look at Kor, she grudgingly conceded, “I’ll admit that there was ‘one’ problem single-mindedly killing all the men in the Suesh Valley. While some post-Second Blow mothers who gave birth to boys forcefully sired by their male prisoners had a tendency to smother or drown them out of blind hatred or fear that they might grow up to just like their progenitors, a significant few were allowed to live, so it wasn’t like there were zero males left.”

“However, all of these males, as well as nearly all of their generation, could trace their lineage back to only a handful of male ‘donors’. Keep in mind that this was before the age of technology, so the nuances of gene pools and genetic diversity were unknown to our people.”

“One year, a disease swept through the land. It was nothing special really, a new strain of summer cold according to historians. However, the disease gravely affected a significant portion of the population who had no immunity to it. Many were sick and several even died from it, forcing the leaders of the new Suraisu Clan to realize that they had a problem.”

“Again, this was before modern science, so the conclusion that they came to was that the men who’d been captured and used as breeders must have simply had weak blood. This was an opinion backed up by the fact that they had been captured in the first place.”

“Desperate for new and stronger blood, the clan gathered its greatest warriors and sent them off across the desert in search of it. While the trek itself was a perilous one, with the land finally united and at peace, a hefty supply of provisions and necessary equipment was easily requisitioned.”

“After nearly a month in the unforgiving desert, the expedition made it to an inhabited place. The trade city of Gyochalo, a massive transit hub for trade across the continent. It straddled the triple point location of where the harsh desert, lush savannahs, and a powerful river that lead out to the sea all met.”

“Gyochalo was a city of wealth known even to the people of the Suesh Valley. It was from here that any successful trip into the desert was mounted and from here that the few trading caravans which had made it to the valley itself without being immediately cast out had come, telling of its location and riches. So, it was here that the warrior women of Clan Suraisu would seek out the worthy males they required.” 

“While the tall city buildings were imposing, putting even the Old Suraisu capital palace to shame, the march of Suraisu women was even more so. They strode proudly through the streets with weapons in hand, drawing attention from every eye that they passed.”

“Gyochalo guards and police quickly flocked to them, wary of invasion, but were unsure of how to handle a foreign group of clearly skilled female warriors, heavily armed, yet peacefully marching through their city.”

“Eventually, the procession made it to the center of the town, where the expedition's commander declared their intentions for all to hear. She explained that a great war in the Suesh Valley had just ended and had left their supply of men depleted. She then explained that they had come to claim new men from among the city’s population and the surrounding lands, even if they had to do so by force.”

“With that one simple declaration, the band of Suraisu women then marched back out of the city and set up camp on its outskirts. There they waited to see how the city and its people reacted.”

“The next morning, the sun rose to greet an army of Gyochalans marching on the camp of Suraisu warriors.”

“The clanswomen were outnumbered a dozen to one by the approaching force, but none feared the coming army. They had seen already, with just one jaunt through the city streets, the softness of the so-called ‘guards’ and the even softer citizenry, while they, on the other hand, were hardened fighters of war. Most of them had been raised since birth for combat.”

A snort of derision interrupted the story and Lacera turned slanted eyes to its source, “So your people just slaughtered an entire city and kidnapped the men,” noted Wraith with a shake of his head. “That explains a lot.”

Surprisingly, the leader of the Tough Nuts did not raise her still gripped pistol in response to the insult. 

Instead, she simply shrugged and shook her head, “Not exactly. As the warrior women marched out to engage the army, they soon realized that the horde of men were completely unarmed. In confusion, they halted their progress before an emissary of the city came out to greet them. This messenger explained that all the men gathered before them were, in fact, volunteers willing to ‘sacrifice themselves’ for sake of peace… or something.”

“It seemed that word had traveled quickly that a band of warrior women had come seeking men to take back to their all-female nation for the sole purpose of procreation.” Lacera shook her head again in disapproval, “Apparently, the offer had been a ‘good one’ and thousands of men of all ages and marital statuses came running to accept it.”

There was a pause of silence as all took in this new information. Then, slowly, most of the men present in the arena began to shrug their shoulders and nod their head in reluctant agreement.

With another disgusted shake of her head, Lacera continued, “The women of Suraisu had not expected this response and so were left with a dilemma, how to choose which males to bring back?”

“Deciding that they only wanted the strongest warriors, they proposed a display of skill and strength. Men wishing to ‘volunteer’ would fight against the women of the Suraisu Clan in one on one matches.”

“As predicted, many were soft from years of peace and those arrogant enough not to take defeat gracefully were quickly cut down to make a point to the rest.”

“Disappointed with the men, but still on a mission, the expedition decided to try and seek out those with potential instead.”

“The clanswomen each selected males from amongst the ‘volunteers’ who’d shown at least some potential in the matches and attempted to train them.”

“The process took months and many did not meet expectations, but eventually a sizable number of sturdy and skilled warriors were selected from among the men and the expedition began its long trek back across the desert. Alongside them came a host of trade caravans, eager for the opportunity to open routes with a previously hostile and closed off land, which made the journey much easier.”

“But then, another problem occurred,” countered Lacera with an expression that seemed unsure of how she felt about what she going to say next. “After the long and arduous journey home, many of the Suraisu Clan warriors who had trained the prospective males had become overly ‘attached’ to their choices.”

Off to the side, Viscera grinned at the words. It was clear that ‘she’ liked this part of the tale.

“This was especially prevalent among the younger warriors, the ones who’d been born after the start of the Weary Final War and did not know life under the cruel control of men.”

“Despite the fact that the objective of the expedition was to return with viable ‘breeding stock’, after months of time spent traveling and training with the young prospects they had chosen themselves, most of the Surairsu warriors simply refused to ‘share’.”

“This caused some turmoil amongst the clanswomen, even going so far as to instigated single-combat matches over mating rights.”

“Seeing the division this was causing to the newly unified Suesh Valley and Suraisu Clan, the ruling elders made a decree. Its ruling was called the ‘Right of First Claim’, but is commonly referred to it as the ‘Get Your Own’ proclamation. Basically, it professed that any Suraisu warrior who returned with a male had the right to claim them for their sole use and if any of the women who had remained in the Valley did not like the selection of ‘free game’ males that were brought back, they would have to venture forth across the desert and claim their own mates.”

Viscera interrupted suddenly at this point, “As time passed, trade routes to the city of Gyochalo opened and the journey across the sands became easier. As fewer and fewer of the warriors who made the harsh journey to claim their husbands were willing to share them when they returned, it became a standing tradition for all women of age to venture out into the world and seek the most skilled, brave, and ‘attractive’ warriors to become their bondmate forever after.” She added this last part with a glance back at Kor.

Having not turned her gaze away from the gathered listeners, but having heard her younger sister’s words, Lacera sighed in frustration, “Yes, but my sister is being naive,” she declared, as if stating her case to a jury, “Her ‘chosen one’ will be her partner for the rest of her life.” Lacera then turned a cold stare back to Viscera, “It takes more than just some fancy wrench swinging to be a worthy mate, Vi.”

Despite the lecturing nature of her elder sister’s tone, Viscera simply shot her a skeptical sideways look. She then turned to address the group of onlookers, “She means bolts,” she explained, shattering any sense of agreement anyone else might have had with Lacera’s previous statement.

In an instant, Lacera’s stern and intense demeanor evaporated, “Financial stability is an ‘important’ part of any marriage!” she fired back, with the air of someone who’d had this argument before and was used to defending her position. “With the cost of ships and transport, armor and weapons, the clan needs more than just skill and ‘feelings’ to prosper.”

The leader of the Tough Nuts then spun her gaze back to the ‘jury’ and looked for support. She found none in the turned away faces of those present all unwilling to meet her gaze… except for Varin, who grinned knowingly and held out a thumbs up in approval.

_ ‘Ugh, poor Alister,’ _ thought Kaden as he connected some dots.

Despite her sister’s argument, Viscera’s expression only hardened in defiance, “I don’t care how many bolts he’s worth!” she asserted adamantly, putting her hand on Kor’s armored chest. “Which, judging by the disrepair of his equipment, I’m sure is not much.”

There was sharp, metallic grunt that came from Kor as Viscera hit a painful nail on the head.

“All that matters,” the younger Suraisu continued as if not hearing anything, as she turned to stare deeply into Kor’s crystal eyes, “is that our love is unbreakable.”

Lacera growled her displeasure loudly, “You can’t be in love, the two you haven’t even known each oth- Would you get ‘off’ of him already!” she shouted, finally having enough of the scene before her. “The battle ended a whole civilization’s lore and backstory ago!”

Viscera gave her sister a dark look, as if Lacera had just ruined something for her, but reluctantly she stood up. Once fully supporting her own weight, she then offering the still prone Kor a hand as well.

After eyeing the offered appendage suspiciously for a moment, the armored warrior took it with his good hand.

“I’m… sorry about that,” Viscera apologized half-heartedly as Kor got to his feet.

“It’s alright,” he countered dismissively. “I doubt I would have gotten up much sooner regardless. Your skills have certainly improved since we last met in combat,” he praised with a slight bow of his head.

Caught off guard by the sudden compliment, Viscera’s expression melted, a shy smile split her lips, and she let out a stifled giggle of joy as her ears flicked happily.

The sight of this reaction was greeted by synchronous gagging reflexes from Lacera and Wraith, along with a chorused, “Awww,” from Varin and Torque.

The remaining three Lombaxes, Kaden, Lorna, and Ragnin all just continued to look confused. Though, Ragnin appeared to be equally amused by the situation as well.

Forgetting that an angry Lacera still had her pistol raised, Kaden turned to Kor, who seemed way too calm and comfortable in this situation, “How are you so unfazed by this?” he demanded, annoyed by Kor’s unnaturally calm demeanor. “Are you not at all concerned that someone just set up a grudge match for the sole purpose of forcing you to marry them?”

Kor turned to the question and shrugged indifferently, “It is not that uncommon of a ritual amongst my people. Many life bonds are formed as a result of combat to the death. In fact, that’s how my brother was life bonded to ‘his’ wife.”

This time it was Lorna who broke across the confusion to speak, “You mean to tell us that your brother brutally attacked some woman and forced her to marry him?”

Kor looked away and sighed in what seemed like disappointment and shame, “No,” he answered in gravelly tones.

There was silence as the group took in Kor’s words. Eventually, Lacera nodded in what seemed like reluctant approval.

Taking this nod as an opening, Viscera made her move, “So then, Kor Vol’terran,” she said earnestly, “now that you know my family’s legacy, won’t you reconsider my offer? There are no weaklings amongst the Suraisu Clan and I promise you that there will be no shortage of chances to test and improve your skills at my side!”

At this, everyone turned and eyed the armored Lombax with intrigue.

Kor, for his part, did not reply immediately. 

After what felt like a long time, however, he slowly began to shake his head, “I will have to decline,” he insisted before turning and walking away.

Crestfallen, Viscera reached out reflexively, “But why?” she pleaded.

Kor shook his head again as he stopped walking a few feet away from her and reached down for something on the floor.

As he lifted up the Vibroblade, still in its hilt, and walked back toward Viscera he continued to speak, “I did not leave my homeland to find a new life or companionship, I came solely in search of new challenges and to sharpen my skill. I don’t know if I’m ready for such a commitment and so, I will not deviate from my path.”

The red-armored warrior then came to stop just in front of Viscera, “However, if my life is what you truly desire, I shall accept your challenge to the death at any time… should you defeat me, you may ask what you will.”

“As I said, this match does not qualify for such a thing,” Kor continued, before reaching out his hand with the blade laid across his palm, “But for your skill and your victory, I at least return this to you.”

Viscera looked down at the blade with a disappointed expression, but then a sad smile split her lips and she looked back up to Kor’s emotionless face, “You keep it,” she insisted, placing her hand on the weapon and closing Kor’s armored fist around it. “On the condition that, whenever you’re stabbing it into the guts of your enemies, or slicing your opponent’s arteries, or buttering your toast with it... you will think of me.”

The ever stoic Lombax pulled the knife back and responded with simple metallic, “I will.”

The expressions on the faces of the onlookers around them were now a hardy mix of emotions, confusion being most prominent, but nearly all of them had softened at least somewhat.

The moment was then ruined when Varin turned to the Lombax at her side, “Are you… crying?” she questioned in disbelief.

The group turned as one to find matted fur around instructor Sergeant’s eyes and they both widened in surprise, “W-what?! No, of course not!” he refuted desperately, wiping liquid from his face. “I was just… bored... to tears,” he added, before pretending to yawn. “This was a waste of time!”

And with that, the grizzled instructor marched off in a huff, mumbling things about how stupid ‘young love’ was and how he didn’t care at all.

Having watched him go, Lacera then turned back to her sister, “Viscera, that knife is a family heirloom. You can’t just go around giving it away like that.”

Having not turned her gaze from Kor’s twinkling glass eyes despite Ragnin’s display of emotion, Viscera finally turned back to her sister with irritation in her voice, “Well, when I marry him, then ‘he’ will be part of the family too, so the blade will stay in the clan’s possession regardless.”

Lacera opened her mouth to protest, but then considered her sister’s words, “I… guess that makes sense,” she admitted thoughtfully, but then her eyes flashed back open and her expression grew angry, “You. Are. Not. Marrying him!” she declared resolutely.

Taking a challenging step forward, Viscera faced down her sister, “Why can’t you just be supportive, like a good elder sister?”

Lacera took a step forward as well, lowering her pistol, but appearing no less threatening, “Why can’t you just make mature decisions that I can support?”

The two continued to argue like this, until they were within arms reach of one another, where they then began to partake in a sisterly wrestling match.

Sighing and shaking his head as he wondered what he’d just witnessed, Kaden turned away from the spectacle and towards the exit. He had other things he had wanted to do today and, as Ragnin had said, this had become a waste of time.

As the tan Lombax turned to go, however, he was suddenly startled by the appearance of Kor’s armored form.

“Gah!” the tan Lombax blurted out, before spinning his head back around to where the Lombax Warrior had been just a second ago. “When did you-”

But Kor interrupted him, “In truth, it is ‘you’ who I seek a rematch with most of all, Kaden. You may believe our last fight in the Depot to be a draw, but even a draw is unacceptable to me.”

Kaden’s expression went from one of surprise, to one of annoyance in an instant, “Listen here you battle loving, combat junkie,” he began, with a pointed finger for emphasis. “I know your game now. Even if you try to get under my fur by sucker punching me… cheap move by the way... you won’t get a rise. That’s because I know now that it’d just be giving you ‘exactly’ what you want.”

Kor did not reply, he simply lowered his head and grumbled his dissatisfaction at Kaden’s words.

Kaden, confident that his message had finally gotten across Kor’s muscle-bound brain, still wanted to err on the side of caution and reiterate his point, “Listen to me, Kor. I am ‘never’ going to fight you again… period!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gyochalo - means “Crossed Paths” in Korean, which is the perfect name for a major trade city.
> 
> Suesh Valley - “Blood Soaked” in Japanese is “Ketsueki o hitashita”. I got ‘Suesh’ Valley from staring at the phrase for ten minutes and mixing words/syllables until something sounded original.


	6. Back to Normal?

The explosion ripped through the air, blasting Kor sideways with its shockwave, but he’d managed to avoid the worst of it.

Raising his twin pistols to the robot that had launched the explosive, the armored Lombax repeatedly squeezed their two triggers until the target was so full of holes that it fell to the ground in pieces.

He had no time to be pleased with himself, however, as a much larger robot, nearly twice his size and wielding an electrified hammer, was charging at him.

Kor holstered one of the pistols, but held down the trigger on the other. This time, instead of a blast of energy, the weapon began to charge with power.

In response to the attacking mechanoid, the red-armored Lombax dashed forward to face them head-on. Just as the robot’s electricity-wrapped weapon came to meet him, he threw up his empty hand and from his wrist erupted a short beam of light.

The line of energy did not shoot out like a gun, but rather came to a stop at about the length of half a meter. 

Using this energy blade, Kor sliced upward, severing the hammer in the middle of its shaft.

The force of the robot’s swing caused the hammer head to go sailing forward, but Kor had predicted this and smoothly moved his ever-masked face out of the way. 

Trapped by its own momentum, the robot finished its downward swing. Kor used the machine’s grip on the now headless hammer as the perfect foothold, before leaping up to his opponent’s head.

Now high in the air, Kor simultaneously drove his energy blade straight through the top of the large robot’s head, killing it instantly, while also firing his now fully charged pistol into the distance and over the heads of the phalanx line of shield guards that had impeded him so far.

Kaden looked up, surprised to see a projectile coming at him so suddenly, but he wasn’t worried.

Reacting automatically, two of the four elite robot-guards that stood around him jumped between himself and the attack.

The two automatons slammed their fists together, before pulling them away, forming a large shield between them. Kor’s energy blast slammed against it a moment later, sparking for a few seconds, before dissipating harmlessly.

Kor clicked his teeth in disappointment, but he wasn’t discouraged. He still had plenty of time left.

Seeing that the defensive wall of regular guards had been breached, Kaden raised his hand before flattening it outward. This command ordered all but his elites to switch from defending him to attacking his enemy.

The nearest guards came at Kor immediately with swords and spears. In response, the armored Lombax holstered his remaining pistol and unsheathed a second energy sword from his other gauntlet’s wrist. 

With the two short swords now at the ready, the red-armored warrior dove into combat. 

He immediately swung his one wrist blade up to parry an incoming attack, stopping an opposing electrified sword short. At the same time, he slashed horizontally with his other sword and bisected the attacking robot with one swipe.

Before the first robot had even hit the floor, however, a second robot thrust at him with a spear. Kor blocked this attack by crossing his energy blades over each other, catching the long pole weapon in their crux and pointing its deadly edge safely away from him.

Once the attacker’s momentum had dissipated, he then pulled his swords apart, slicing the head off of the spear in the resulting scissor action.

Left without a weapon, the robot combatant looked up in surprise, before Kor drove a sword into its chest and ripped it outward.

The third robot that came at him wielded two swords, but Kor wasn’t even paying attention to it. Behind this third and final attacker, all the other guard bots had kept their distance while also drawing their ranged weapons.

The machines had used their three comrades as a diversion, forcing Kor into a kill box without him noticing.

But, they hadn’t yet managed to fully encircle him.

Seeing the danger, Kor leapt backwards from the third attacker, narrowly missing its twin sword slashes. As he did, he used one of the few NID commands he’d mastered and energized the zero-friction coating on the bottom of his boots.

Throwing his leg outward and straight back to stabilize himself, the armored Lombax then lowered his front leg to give himself as small a profile as he could, while he continued to slide backward with the force of his initial jump.

Seeing their target escaping, the line of robots opened fire, filling the air with a barrage of projectiles that shredded anything in their path, including the remaining robot that had attacked Kor.

As the bullets continued onward, Kor threw up his arms for protection. 

While to an outside observer this would simply look like an instinctually defensive move, it was actually much more.

The two swords on Kor’s wrist began to spin, slowly at first, but accelerated so quickly that in less than a second the blades were spinning so fast they could barely be distinguishable from a solid disc of energy.

When the first salvo reached Kor, many were deflected by the spinning blades, but a few had managed to have the perfect timing and slip between them, striking the Lombax behind them and putting a few holes and dents in his armor.

Kor cursed his slow reaction, but grit his teeth as his sword-shields completed their transformation, bleeding energy from the hilt of the blades that quickly spiraled out along the disc of light, forming a solid wall of power that halted any further projectiles dead in their tracks.

Cutting the signal to his boots, friction was returned, and Kor came to halt a comfortable distance away from his attackers. It was cramped, but he had managed to protect his whole body behind a single shield.

However, despite the distance, he was still in danger if any of the robots attacked at close-range under cover of their barrage. That’s why he needed one of his shields free.

While the first sword still spun at a blinding speed in front of him, Kor reached back with his second shield and threw it in an arc over the first.

Sensing the movement, his gauntlet detached the burning device and it was sent whistling off into the distance.

Mimicking the motion of an OmniWrench’s boomerang system, the blue disc flew towards the line of robots, biting into them like a buzzsaw through butter.

After seeing the first few robots sliced cleanly in two, the rest of the automatons in the weapon’s well-aimed path of destruction quickly got out of its way. Some simply sidestepping, while other full on dropped to the ground.

All in all, two machines had been destroyed outright and a third was severely damaged.

Counting themselves lucky for having not been at the start of the line, the remaining robots turned back to their target, but were surprised to find that Kor was now charging straight towards them, rapidly closing the gap that he’d created.

The flying sword disc flew along its path, arching back around to where Kor had positioned himself. With a seamless reach of his arm that did not interrupt his charge, the armored Lombax caught the blade with the back of his gauntlet, automatically locking it back into its housing.

While the second blade still formed the shape of a shield, Kor dove into the robots’ line, slicing apart the first mechanoid he came to with a single strike.

The second robot was quick to react, stabbing forward with the bayonet on the end of its rifle, but Kor simply used his sword-shield to block it, before shearing off the front of the rifle with his sword-sword. The decapitated piece of firearm was swiftly followed by the robot’s head, which clattered lazily to the floor a second later.

By that time, however, Kor was already onto the third robot, which had managed to draw a long, electrified sword. It stood ready to meet its target’s challenge head-on, but in a move that did not compute, Kor simply ran past it.

The red-armored Lombax wasn’t eager to play with fodder at the moment. Now that the line of robots had fallen, Kaden and his elite guard were wide open.

He still had to worry about attacks from behind though, so once Kor had passed all but two of the regular robots, he spun on his heel and threw out three small orbs.

With impeccable precision and skill, Kor had thrown the orbs so that they landed in a perfect line between him and his robot enemies, with equal space between them. 

The instant they hit the ground, they erupted into a massive, convoluted jungle of branches and spirals that skewered two of the robots unfortunate enough to be standing between them.

To anyone watching it would have looked as if an explosion had been frozen in time. 

The grenades had been filled with a type of pressurized metallic foam that rapidly grew outward upon its release. At the end of each tentacle was a razor-sharp needle of hardened trillium that ensured penetration of all but the densest of armor plating.

The three Iron Hedgehogs also had the added bonus of forming an impassable wall between Kor and the remaining robots. It would take them a while figure out what had happened and then even longer to go around without damaging themselves. 

All that was left now for Kor to deal with was what was in front of him.

Again, Kor dashed past the first of two remaining robots, surprising both of them and allowing him to easily block the second one’s hasty attack before cleanly slicing through it. 

In the same motion, he spun around and roundhouse kicked the first, which had yet to turn around fully.

The force of the strike sent the robot flying toward the large mounds of bristling foam, piercing it all over and turning it into swiss cheese in seconds.

With the small fry out of the way, Kor turned to his main objective.

Kaden glowered at the quick defeat of his advanced guard, but felt no real emotion towards it. He had always expected Kor to make it this far, so what followed next was simply a continuation of that script.

With a wave of his hand, all four of Kaden’s elites hefted their halberds and marched forward toward their new target.

Confident of his skill, but unaware of the guards’, Kor drew his twin pistols, his wrist-mounted sword and shield still burning with power, and fired a salvo of rounds at Kaden.

Seeing the incoming attack, the rear two guards jumped into action, once again slamming their fists together and forming a barrier between their master and his enemy.

The shots sparked harmlessly out of existence as they struck the shield, but the point was made clear, if all of the guards went out to meet their opponent, Kaden would be left open to attack.

Kaden’s ears pointed upward stiffly as he considered the threat, but he was unfazed. It took him only a second to make a decision and lower his outstretched hand.

The rear two guards acknowledged this order and moved back to defensive positions while the forward two guards continued their attack.

The two elites came at Kor in perfect symmetry, mirroring each other’s movement down to the last millimeter. They kept their weapons pointed forward until the last moment, before they then drew them back and brought them down.

Kor used his shield to block one strike while stopping the other with his sword. The two halberds sparked with electricity as their powered blades tried to cut through the physical manifestations of pure energy, while also preventing counter damage.

When the stalemate was clear, Kor threw his arms up, throwing the staff weapons off of him, before stepping back. With enough room between him and his opponents, he brought up his pistols and opened fire.

For the third time, Kor watched as two guards slammed their fists together, creating a shield between them and blocking his shots.

Without hesitation, Kor ran for the side of the bots and around their barrier until he was right on their side. The two guards released their shield and turned to face him, one behind the other.

Hoping to face them one-on-one for a brief instant, Kor charged in, taking a halberd strike on his shield and swinging sideways with his sword.

Much more intelligent than its fodder compatriots, the first elite ducked the sword attack and allowed its partner to jab forward with their own weapon.

But Kor had been rigorously training himself against two complimentary fighters, ever since his defeat at the hands of the Suraisus. 

By the time the bladed polearm had reached him, the armored Lombax had already brought his sword up to stop it, knocking the halberd off course just enough to avoid him. It was a close call, though. The weapon’s sparking blade left a long line through the paint on his metallic cheek.

While he had trained to fight two-on-one, he knew that even his skills could not match that of two skilled opponents simultaneously. His only chance was to somehow increase his attack rate.

As the halberd blade passed by his head, Kor brought his sword down, which brought the pistol, still in his grip, to bear on the second elite, before unleashing a hail of rounds at close range.

Undaunted, the robot guard brought up its free arm and a flaring energy field emanated from it. While much weaker without a partner to regulate the feedback, the small shield was able to stop the low caliber shots of Kor’s pistol.

Kor didn’t have time to dwell on his failed attack though, as the halberd of the first elite was already coming up to greet him.

This time Kor slid half his body around, turning on his heel, and using his shield to once again block the attack. 

As the assaulting mechanoid rose to press its assault, however, it found itself looking down the glowing barrel of Kor’s other pistol, which was now fully charged.

A powerful boom echoed around the combatants as a burning ball of plasma slammed into the robot guard’s face, vaporizing metal plating and circuitry with equal ease.

Despite seeing its partner die, the second elite didn’t hesitate to thrust forward with its weapon, forcing Kor to sidestep. 

Taking advantage of having put its opponent on the backfoot, the robotic warrior released its halberd and pulled two daggers from its chest compartment, bringing them both forward in two wide arcs, almost like a hug.

Surprised by the change in weaponry, Kor had to throw both his shield and sword up to block the attacks. 

The simple metal composition of the daggers was quickly melted by Kor’s energy weapons, but their wielder didn’t care. In a move that Kor had not expected from an artificial intelligence, the elite guard drove its head between his wide open arms and headbutted the armored Lombax full in the face.

With his ears ringing, Kor was sent flying into the floor on his back.

Blinking stars from his eyes, the red-armored warrior looked up through his helmet to find that his opponent’s robotic hands had slid away from its wrists and the barrels of two blaster rifles that had replaced them were trained, ready to fire, on his body.

Kor reflexively pulled his shield up to protect him, but in his head, he knew there was no point.

A moment later the orb that he’d dropped at the elite guard’s feet exploded, causing a tidal wave of metal foam to rise up, skewering the automaton before raising it high into the air. Putting it on display like a sacrificial totem.

This gave Kor a chance to catch his breath.

On the other side of the metal porcupine, Kaden silently eyed the Iron Hedgehog along with his two dead elite guards. He did this from behind only two remaining guards, each with an arm held out, their hands folded away, and their guns ready to fire. 

These were now the only thing that stood between him and his attacker.

Just then, a blue disc flew out from behind the metal foam mound. It sailed outward, nowhere near Kaden or his guard, and off into the distance. 

This was a distraction. As a second later, Kor’s red form bolted from behind the other side of the mound, dashing forward with blinding speed.

The armored warrior pushed himself to run as fast as he was capable of for just a moment, before he activated his zero-friction coating again. 

By the time the two guards had brought their guns away from the spinning disc and around to bear, Kor was skating across the floor at top speed toward them. 

More importantly, though, he had raised his two pistols, both glowing hot with a full charge, and was pointing them straight at Kaden.

Before either of the two robotic guards could fire a shot, Kor released the trigger of his own weapons, unleashing twin orbs of burning destruction that zipped forward at several times his own impressive speed.

Seeing the incoming danger, the elite guards immediately formed their shield link to protect their master. The two balls of energy splashed harmlessly against it; even the force of the two heavy attacks were no match for the powerful defense.

Despite the clear futility of the effort, Kor continued to unload round after round of standard power shots into the shields as he slid ever closer.

For a brief half-second, Kaden thought that the fight was over, that Kor had made a mistake and that it would cost him this whole thing. 

Even if Kor’s ranged attack did continue to keep Kaden’s guards on the defensive, the second he arrived in range, they would attack without mercy. 

It should have been obvious from the encounter with the first two guards that these elite combat bots actually learned as they fought and watched.

Of the two Kor had faced at first, the second one had seen how even their combined skill could not overcome the opponent, and so it had made a risky and brash move to attack that would have won it the fight had Kor not been as forward-thinking as he’d been.

By this next encounter, the two remaining guards would be fully aware of this too and they would likely go completely on the offensive, disregarding any concern for their own safety, in order to eliminate their target in one fell swoop. Even Kor could not overcome such an attack head-on.

But then the half-second passed and Kaden’s eyes grew wide as he spun around to try and find the energy disc that had been thrown earlier. 

He actually heard the thing, before he saw it. 

By the time he had turned his head and spotted the spinning weapon, it had already arched back and was whistling its way towards him. The only glimpse he actually got of it was a bright streak of light as it sailed by his face and buried itself in the back of the nearest automaton.

The elite guard’s armor was strong enough not to be cut through cleanly, but instead, the disc reformed itself as its energy dissipated, leaving behind a long energy sword, buried deep into the center of the robot’s back and protruding out its chest.

As the power lines inside the robot were cut and the machine began to fall, the shield link to its partner was cut.

The large shield barrier disappeared, just as Kor reached their line. 

Not expecting the impenetrable wall in front of it to disappear, the final elite guard barely had time to react before a glowing energy sword screeched straight through its head.

Using the momentum of his charge, Kor leapt up, planting his boots into the dying guard’s chest and riding it forward like a surfboard.

In the same motion, the armored Lombax reached out and reconnected the second sword, still protruding from the back of the first guard, back to his gauntlet.

Seeing all this play out in the span of less than two seconds, Kaden reflexively took a step back as he stared fixedly into the red glowing eyes of Kor the Crimson Reaper.

The tan Lombax was frozen and watched in slow motion as his hated enemy brought their two swords together and swung them as one. The twin blades cut harsh, bright trails of light that traced their path straight to Kaden’s neck and then… they came to a halt in mid-air, close enough to singe fur, but just short of severing head from body.

The two Lombaxes remained perfectly still in this pose, eyeing each other intensely, while letting the loud clatter of the two defeated robot guards falling to the floor echo in the background.

When the noises had died down, the only sounds left were that of Kor’s heavy, metallic breathing.

“And cut!” came the shout of a floating robotic torso with a video camera attached to its shoulder.

The camera-bot, along with about a dozen other floating drone cameras, then hovered down to the floor from where they had been positioned all over the oversized combat arena.

Kaden let out a short sigh before raising a digi-pad to his face, while Kor dropped his outstretched arms away from the tan Lombax’s neck.

The red-armored Lombax then began to pant heavily, revealing the strain he’d just put on his body, “I… told you… I could do it… in one cut,” he declared proudly to his employer.

Kaden raised an eyebrow at the comment, “Hmmm,” he intoned absently as he sifted through video snippets on his digi-pad. “We’ll have to edit out a second or two of the little break you took behind the Iron Hedgehog before the final push, but everything else seems good. Looks like we got it all, so it ‘was’ a clean take.”

A short, strained laugh of satisfaction escaped Kor’s helmet speakers.

This show of satisfaction conflicted Kaden. As a lover of efficiency, the fact that they had shot the whole practical weapons’ test demonstration in one take made him very happy. On the other hand, the fact that Kor’s skill was responsible for it, did not.

With a press of his digi-pad, a squad of cleaner bots rolled out from their storage closets located around the room and began collecting the destroyed combat robots. One particularly large cleaner bot approached the nearest mound of metal foam spikes and used a flamethrower to melt it down to manageable scrap.

Having finally caught his breath, Kor took a moment to marvel at the speed with which his destruction was erased, before then turning back to Kaden, “Well?” he asked eagerly.

Kaden gave him a wry look, but then conceded with a sigh, “You win the bet, I’ll add a one-thousand bolt bonus to your paycheck.”

Kor pumped his fist subtly, greatly pleased with his success, but careful not to be overly excited. He then bowed slightly to Kaden in a humble way as if to thank him, at first, but seemed to think better of it. “You’re welcome,” were the words he spoke instead.

Kaden scowled at the comment, but internally, he knew that it was ‘he’ who got the last laugh. He had initially hired Kor to test and demonstrate his new weaponry, but had only planned on running simple tests today. Merely getting his ‘subject’ familiar with the weaponry and assessing his ability to use them. 

However, after seeing the ease and proficiency with which the ever armor-clad Lombax had become accustomed to the equipment, Kaden had instead bet him that he couldn’t use the unfamiliar weapons to take down a squad of his combat-bots, which he recorded.

A measly one-thousand bolts was nothing compared to the costs that he’d just saved on munitions alone, never mind the thousands that each robotic test combatant cost. 

Mercatus had given him a hefty sum to produce a weapons’ demonstration video, as well as for simple professional field tests of the prototype units. 

But, by brilliantly combining untested weaponry, along with Kor’s inlombax skill, Kaden had just saved bank on the whole process. This meant he could put all the new funds towards his research and development costs, which inevitably always became overrun due to various complications and damages.

The tan-furred inventor couldn’t help but curl the corner of his lips at the thought of ‘not’ having to beg a slant-eyed, stone-faced Mercatus for a budget increase… at least not a big one.

“So, how did they handle?” Kaden eventually asked, after he’d finished congratulating himself for a brilliantly efficient testing session.

Kor held up his arms and marveled at the glowing swords and the twin pistols, “They’re magnificent,” he stated firmly, still studying the devices with awe.

Kaden’s curled lips broadened into a wide and prideful grin, “Well, ‘I’ was the one who made them,” he noted, patting his own ego again.

Kor, not realizing the arrogance in the words, simply nodded his agreement before looking down the sights of one of the pistols again, “I would truly relish the opportunity to take these into a real battle.”

Still smiling stupidly, Kaden’s ears twitched at Kor’s words, “Well you know, I could probably get you a discount on the market versions if you want, just pre-order them now,” he offered, so full of self-satisfaction that the thought of showing Mercatus that he already had a buyer for his new weapons was only half the reason he was offering a discount to Kor. “I could probably even save you more if you take them as payment for your work today,” he added thoughtfully.

But the red-armored Lombax just lowered the pistol slowly and shook his helmeted head, “No, I have already received payment for most of today’s efforts,” he explained, clearly lamenting the fact. “The one called ‘Mercatus’ generously offered to fully restore my armor in lieu of payment, even including reparations for any damages sustained during your test. The cost of doing so would have been much more than my earnings otherwise. I have no other substantial funds at the moment, so I am afraid I’ll have to decline.”

Kaden looked over Kor’s immaculately restored crimson-colored armor and marveled at Mercatus’ business genius. Kor’s armor would have needed to be restored and spit-shined for the commercial regardless of his choice to accept its repair as wages. Usually, show armor would be worn, but since Kor was unique in what he could and could not wear, that would have likely been the outcome.

Kaden then noted how easily Kor was being taken advantage of, both by Mercatus and by himself, and his smile faded slightly, but not to the point that it diminished his mood, “Well, that’s a shame,” he dismissed with a shrug, before he waved an inventory drone over to where the two of them stood. “It must be tough being poor.”

But the armored Lombax shook his head, “No. I have seen how bolts are used as a crutch for strength. The Gold Bolts were this way, seeking to pay me for my skill rather than hone their own. I see being at such a disadvantage as making me stronger.”

Kaden nodded in acknowledgement of Kor’s convictions, if for no other reason to internally justify his own monetary shortcutting of the oblivious hired help.

The wide automaton that had been summoned then rolled up to Kor and opened its stomach to him, revealing a foam pad on which to place his weapons and unused Iron Hedgehogs.

But, Kor did not immediately place the equipment onto it. Instead, he tightened his grip on both the pistols and looked back up to Kaden, “A true shame,” he repeated, his gaze unseen, yet piercing. “There is one, in particular, I would wish to face with them.”

In an instant, Kaden’s cheerful expression drained away and his fur stood up as he noticed Kor’s threatening stance.

There were still dozens of unused combat-bots and even several more elite guards hanging off to their side. They stood at the ready, having been intended for any necessary reshoots or alternative demonstrations. 

With the flick of a wrist, Kaden could send every single one of them into combat mode and his hand muscles twitched reflexively in anticipation of just such a command, but he knew better than to give the mad Lombax what he wanted.

Swallowing back a small lump of fear, the tan Lombax turned to face Kor, giving him his full attention now, before marching straight toward him.

The red-armored Lombax’s stance went stiff and he raised his weapons in an openly aggressive way, ready to attack at any moment, but he did not.

Kaden came to stop, his face just inches from the barrels of Kor’s pistol.

With a defiant glare, the tan Lombax spread his arms wide, “Then do it,” he challenged coldly.

For the next several seconds the two of them simply stared at each other, Kor’s fingers on the triggers of his pistols, one trained on Kaden’s head and the other on his heart. 

The standoff went on so long that Kaden began to fear that Kor might actually open fire, but then, with a metallic grunt of disappointment, the armored Lombax lowered his weapons. 

The warrior from Magnaron was uninterested in a one-sided fight. He wanted a challenge, not an execution.

Kaden raised his chin in triumph, though he also did it to hide the relief in his face, “I told you I wasn’t going to fight you again,” he declared adamantly, reiterating his conviction once more to his bloodthirsty rival/harasser/employee.

Reluctantly, Kor put his equipment into the inventory-bot, “It was worth a try,” he countered solemnly, as he pulled the zero-friction soles off his boots.

Kaden just shook his head and returned to monitoring the clean-up, “Instead of wasting my time you should be preparing for the second phase of today’s testing. Keep the pistols, you still don’t have a ranged weapon, right?”

Kor watched as the inventory-bot rolled away, before holstering the twin blasters, “Still,” he continued, as he raised his arm and summoned his Malleus Wrench from where it lay at the far end of the arena, “you surprise me, Kaden.”

The tan Lombax did no look up from his digi-pad, but he did reflexively raise an eyebrow, “Oh, how so?” he asked, sounding more curious than he would have liked.

While focusing mainly on examining and hefting his weapon, as well as flexing his muscles to get their status, Kor answered absently, “From what you’ve said, you hold control of one’s emotions in high regard, yet you seem to have little yourself. I am amazed that you are able to relinquish any ill will after I sucker-punched you. I thought for sure that you, of all people, would hold a grudge.”

Kaden bristled at the comment, upset so much at the insulting and completely unfounded accusation that he was ‘emotional’ that he reflexively opened his mouth to argue, but then he paused. 

As the last of the cleaner bots made their way from the now spotless arena, a twisted smile curled the corner of Kaden’s lips, “I never said I didn’t hold a grudge.”

With the press of a button on his digi-pad, the floor beneath Kor’s armored boots suddenly opened up and the surprised Lombax disappeared from sight.

Kaden, his twisted smile now a wide and equally twisted grin, peered over the edge of the large hole at his feet.

However, the next few moments were crucial for the tan Lombax. He had opened the trap door on impulse, but it was a still little too early.

_ ‘“Have a nice trip, see you next fall?” No, that sounded too forced. “How was your flight?” No, he fell straight down.’ _

The sound of metallic groaning echoed from the dark depths of the pit, forcing Kaden’s hand, “Watch your step!” he warned snidely, before grimacing and shaking his head. He knew he could have done better.

“No, it’s fine,” came a metallic voice from the hole, in a way that made Kaden question if Kor was even aware of what he’d just done. “I landed on something soft.”

At this, Kaden’s smile returned and he said nothing.

A moment later, a flash of light from a helmet lamp illuminated a distant part of the hole. 

It then went back out again in an instant, “You… are insane,” Kor’s metallic voice called up to Kaden again. It spoke not with anger or surprise, but as a simple statement of fact.

Even if the tan Lombax wanted to retort, he couldn’t, as any words he could have spoken would be drowned out by the ear-splitting roar that rippled up from the pit a second later.

A staccato of gunfire erupted from the darkness and sharp flashes of light dotted its shadowy depth.

The arena floor then rumbled as something screeched again, this time with pain in its feral voice. 

With a whoosh of air, a massive octopus tentacle erupted from the mouth of the pit, as the floor continued to shake. Held firmly in its suction-cupped grasp was the red-painted form of Kor. 

The tiny-looking armored Lombax was pulling the triggers on his twin pistols as fast as he could, sending streams of shots back into the darkness, before adjusting his aim and stitching a line of angry red welts up the tentacle’s skin.

With another roar of pain, the suckers attached to Kor’s armor released.

For a moment, the Lombax warrior laughed mechanically in triumph, before realizing there was nothing left holding him aloft.

Kor fell back into the darkness, flailing wildly about for purchase, as Kaden’s mind shouted,  _ ‘See you next fall!’ _ .

Anger at the missed opportunity showed on the tan Lombax’s face, but any further thoughts on the matter were halted as the breathless panting of someone running up next to him caught his attention.

“What…” Varin began as she fought for air, “the heck?!”

Kaden raised an eyebrow and waited for her to catch her breath.

“You... started the Kraken battle without me?!” 

“Oh,” said Kaden, suddenly realizing what he’d done. “I’m sorry, Varin. It’s just, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass.”

This time Varin raised an eyebrow, “What opportunity?”

Kaden then explained what Kor had said and the timing of his retort.

Reluctantly, Varin nodded her head in understanding, “I guess it couldn’t be helped then. At least I didn’t miss much.”

As she said this, she turned back to the edge of the pit where flashes of light strobed the dimness, creating still frames of Kor’s valiant fight against a massive octopus-like creature.

Varin then smiled to herself, “Looks like he’s in ‘deep’ trouble down there.”

Kaden winced as if he’d been physically struck by the superior pun.

High above, camera drones recorded every detail of the combat for research purposes, so they’d be able to see everything later, but it was still something else to watch it up close and in person.

“I’m surprised Lorna let you take over her research project,” Kaden noted as he too watched the spectacle with interest. “It must have taken her forever to sequence that thing's DNA to function at such a large scale.”

Varin shrugged, “Not really. Lorna always gets way too attached to her living lab experiments. Even the combat focused ones like the Kraken here. It’s got a brain the size of a pea and feels nothing but aggression and hunger, yet she still can’t stand to see it get fragged.”

Kaden’s expression creased a bit at Varin’s words, “Hey, I get where she’s coming from,” he defended reflexively. “The Kraken is basically like a robot made from protein, right? Well, I’ve made hundreds of combat bots and never once did I enjoy seeing them get turned to scrap.”

Still watching the fight, Varin scowled in response, “You’re both too soft. You should be more like Kor down there, brutally murdering anything that stands in your way without a care.”

The red-armored Lombax in question was currently in the process of trying to pull his massive wrench out of one of the Kraken’s now destroyed eyeballs. The creature roared in anger before wrapping a colossal tentacle around its assailant and throwing him against the wall.

This time Kaden scowled, “He’s not that great,” he countered bitterly. “Since when did you become such a fan?”

“I’m not saying I admire him,” Varin countered with a shake of her head, “But you have got to admit it’s impressive. All those tests you made him do and that crazy gauntlet you made him run for a weapons demonstration. Then, after all of that, he goes straight into a one-on-one fight with a Kraken? I’ll admit I’m starting to understand what Viscera sees in him. Though, it’s hard not to when she never shuts up about him.”

Kaden’s scowl intensified, “We weren’t at it for ‘that’ long,” he muttered.

At this, Varin finally turned from the battle below to stare darkly at Kaden, “You’ve got some nerve,” she growled with indignation as she rounded on him. “First, you say you're ‘just’ doing some basic weapons testing, then you message me to say you're pushing the beast combat back because things are going too good. After waiting for hours to hear from you, I eventually show up here and you two are still going at it. Finally, after I fall asleep out of boredom, you start the whole thing without me! You’re lucky I set my NID to go off when the Kraken’s adrenaline reached a certain level, because if I had woken up tomorrow and found out this was all over... I would have poisoned you.”

Despite Varin’s reprimanding and casual threat, Kaden’s expression only looked confused, “Tomorrow? What do you mean? What time is it now?”

Varin returned Kaden’s look of confusion, “Look at the top corner of your Visual NID Overlay, it’s almost midnight.”

Kaden did as he was told and realized that the corner of his peripheral, which usually showed the time, was instead displaying various readouts of the combat-bots from earlier.

He quickly sent a mental command to his NID and the data changed from one of activation statuses, to that of the current time.

Kaden’s eyes widened when he saw that Varin was right. 

Things had been going so well with the weapons demonstration that time had completely gotten away from him.

“I’ve got to go,” he said simply, before turning and dashing off toward the arena exit.

Varin stared after him with her mouth agape, “You’re just going to leave? After all that?!” she demanded angrily. “The fight’s just getting started! What could possibly be so important?”

The rapidly shrinking tan Lombax waved back to her, “I’ve got to make a phone call!”

Without another word, Kaden disappeared out of the testing area and sprinted down the hall. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten about the time like that, he had been waiting all day for this.

After several turns and what felt like a mile of sprinting, the panting Lombax made it to one of the few secure communications booths located in Synaptic Park. The booths were confined rooms with a single holo-monitor and a chair in them.

As Kaden quickly took the seat, the door to the rooms sealed shut, cutting off all sound to or from it. A moment later, a thin mechanical connector arm reached out of the wall behind him.

Identical to the device that had checked his NID the first time he’d entered Nova Academy, the arm’s metal plate pressed gently against his skin, around where his shoulder met his neck.

In seconds, his NID was connected to the secure communications network of Synaptic Park and he once more had access to his Fastoon Link System. 

The tan Lombax then shut his eyes second naturedly, ignoring the images on the holo-screen in front of him, before rapidly going through his message logs. 

There was tons of junk mail, as usual. Things like coupons for stores he frequented in The Depot, offers for credit/loan services, cease and desist orders, nothing important though.

Kaden ignored all of it and, once he finally reached the end of the log, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. He hadn’t missed her link yet.

However, this relief came with a sudden sense of unease. 

Checking his peripheral chronometer again, he realized for the second time that it was almost midnight and the day was close to being over.

As he sat there, watching the clock in his eye nervously, the sense of unease he felt grew larger. He then began to wonder if she was even going to connect at all. 

The two of them hadn’t spoken much since he’d returned from Sargasso, he’d been too busy catching up on projects and starting new ones that their schedules just hadn’t lined up. There was also the nagging feeling that things had somehow become awkward between them.

But, today was something he had thought for sure would work out, where he’d have the perfect excuse to chat at length with her.

This made him feel all the more guilty about almost missing it, but the uneasiness he’d felt began to pass. In all the time they’d known each other, she had never ‘not’ linked him, even if he wasn’t always there to receive it.

And so, he waited.


	7. The Ties that Strangle

Sorana was sitting at her desk in her dorm room as she typed out the last few words of her research project. It was a research project given to her to complete over the upcoming academy vacation period. It was also a research project whose ‘first draft’ wasn’t due for another month.

With one final keystroke and a sigh of relief, the tired, white-furred Lombax leaned back in her chair and interlaced her fingers above her head to stretch out her stiff muscles.

_ ‘Well, that’s it,’ _ she thought,  _ ‘I’m all out of excuses.’ _

This now-finished research paper represented the last of any and all forms of school work she needed to do, including her self-set studying quotas. 

For this marked yet another instance in a recent pattern of Sorana bemoaning her studious nature and regretting not leaving more work to the last minute.

When she leaned forward in her chair once more, she looked up at the holo-projected calendar on her wall. At its center was a glowing cube that represented the current day with a blinking red ‘Kaden’ at its center. She then looked up at the calendar’s chronometer and noticed that it was almost midnight. 

Sorana wasn’t worried about the time though, she knew her childhood friend would be up well into the following morning, the issue was instead whether or not she could even bring herself to make the connection.

All week she had been secretly agonizing about this day and despite all that time, she still couldn’t decide whether or not to do it.

In years past she wouldn’t have hesitated to call, it was as normal between the two of them as waving hello, but now... everything just felt strange. 

It had been weeks since she’d seen Kaden and Varin together at the Military Field starport and since then her head kept getting clouded whenever she thought about it. Seeing the two of them and the way they had acted together irritated her to a degree that she could not explain. 

Logically, she insisted that it was Varin herself that she was worried about. One look at the mischievous Science Fielder and anyone could tell that she was trouble. More trouble was the ‘last’ thing Kaden needed.

However, between seeing them together and everything that had happened before Kaden had left for Sargasso, Sorana couldn’t help but notice certain ‘quirks’ about her actions and thoughts. Especially those pertaining to Kaden.

The two of them hadn’t yet spoken directly in all this time. They had both sent each other dozens of text links since then, but she found herself overthinking each word as she wrote them, questioning if what she was writing was something a good ‘friend’ would say and nothing more.

She was also beginning to see hidden meaning behind everything Kaden wrote back. The young tan-furred Lombax has always had this particularly annoying habit of making off-handed comments, or acting in an out-of-character way that seemed to imply something… deeper.

In the past, Sorana had always been able to simply brush them aside, knowing that Kaden’s vast intellect was wide and expansive, but about as deep as a kiddie pool. Despite knowing this, however, she’d begun looking for these likely imagined hints in every message before she could stop herself.

Even with something as simple as just linking him tonight, she just couldn’t stop herself from wondering about whether such a simple gesture would appear to have more meaning than it should.

It was at this moment that an alarm went off from Sorana’s NID, warning her that she had less than an hour left before the night was over. 

It was now or never.

Just as she was about to launch into another debate about the ‘implications’ of her actions, the white-furred Lombax’s jaw suddenly tightened in anger.

_ ‘What am I doing?!’ _ she demanded of herself.

The two of them had been friends for years, long before this conflicting bout of teenage angst had struck her, and never once had she hesitated to connect like this. What would it say about their friendship if she didn’t send a link, simply because she can’t help but to over analyze every thought?

Straightening her back with conviction, Sorona took one last deep breath, before reaching forward and activating the communicator uplink on her desk. A second later, a line of dots showed up across her holo-monitor, letting her know that it was trying to establish a connection.

_ ‘Besides,’ _ her mind added as her conviction immediately wavered at the sight of the dots,  _ ‘he doesn’t usually pick up anyway. I’ll just leave a voice-comm like always, then go to sleep and catch up on two nights of lost rest.’ _

As the seconds ticked on, Sorana swallowed reflexively, her eyes glued to the dots that lit up one by one, forming a line across her screen, before disappearing and starting over. 

Her heart began beating in time with the rapid blinking of the dots and, after a long few seconds, it seemed as if she might have gotten her wish. Usually, if he was going to answer, Kaden would have picked up by now.

Just as she thought this, however, the dots vanished and were immediately replaced by a large communication icon, indicating that a connection had been found.

Sorana felt a slight tinge of worry when she saw this and her first reaction was to push away the sensation and calm herself down, but then her veins flash froze to ice as she realized that the symbol on her screen was not just a generic communication icon, but an orb, one representing that there would soon be a ‘video’ communication link.

_ ‘He never connects vid!’ _ Sorana’s mind shouted at itself, as if declaring this fact alone would change the reality of what she was seeing. 

Kaden always accepted calls directly through his NID, so there was never a camera readily available for visual communication, so why was this happening now?

It wasn’t until the next instant in which Sorana recalled that it was currently the end of the weekend, the entirety of which she had spent sleeplessly doing schoolwork and agonizing over this exact moment. She hadn’t changed clothes, taken a bath, or even brushed her fur in all that time. She was even wearing a virtually see-through nightgown for council’s sake!

In an act born from years of muscle memory and with all the speed and precision of a striking cobra, Sorana’s hand flashed out across her desk. In an instant she had slammed her palm onto the large red emergency button that was located at the bottom of her holo-monitor, hitting it so hard that she nearly broke both it and her hand.

Within milliseconds, the holo-projector above her monitor went active, shooting beams of holographic light onto her face and body.

Just as the video connection materialized, Sorana’s appearance was transformed into that of a properly groomed and well-dressed member of society. Not a hair was out of place… as far as anyone could tell.

Still, her reaction had been a little slow. There had been a split second in time where the connection had been live before the projection had completed. Luckily for Sorana, the tan-furred face on the other end of the line had its eyes shut at that very instant.

Sorana’s pulse pounded in her ears and she felt a great wave of relief spread throughout her body, relaxing muscles and warming her frozen nerves. It had been such a ‘close call’ that she couldn’t even appreciate what a brilliantly written pun it was.

However, her desperate actions and subsequent relief only brought to mind further paranoid questions: Why had she been so concerned about her appearance? She knew that Kaden gave little consideration to his own looks, let alone anyone else's.

“Sorana?” asked Kaden curiously, his eyes still closed.

Needing her wits about her, the shaken white-furred Lombax quickly shut down her suspicions by noting that her actions were a result of habit and of a simple desire not to look slovenly. She would have done the same to anyone she’d faced, that was why the insta-facial button was there, after all.

Still fighting to repress her chaotic feelings, Sorana produced a soft and friendly smile, “Hello, Kaden,” she replied in a perfectly measured tone. “A ‘video’ communication, huh? I’ve never known you to use one?” she asked in what she hoped would be seen as a normal question that she would ask of him.

“What?” the young Lombax asked in confusion, before opening his eyes and looking surprised. “Oh! Forgot about that.”

Sorana both fought the urge to shake her head at her friend’s lack of awareness as well as prevent a smile from the same thing.

Kaden simply shrugged, “It’s just a coincidence,” he assured her. “I’m down at Synaptic Park right now. This area is home to a lot of top secret things, so all incoming and outgoing signals are blocked. The only way I can talk to you now is through a hardline communication port, it just so happens to have a video receiver too.”

“I see,” Sorana replied, with a curious, but warm expression. “So then, if all signals are blocked, how did you even get my call in the first place?”

The tan Lombax’s grin widened and he looked very pleased with himself, “I went ahead and jacked in beforehand. This way I wouldn’t miss your link.”

Sorana’s face appeared unfazed, but inside her heart thumped hard against her chest and her stomach churned,  _ ‘Had he been waiting, connected to a communication stand, all this time for me to call?’ _ With a subtle glance at her chronometer again, she once more saw how late it was,  _ ‘how long had he been waiting?!’ _

The ends of Sorana’s smile curled up intentionally, but she couldn’t keep the knot of confusion from her brow, “Are you saying, Kaden, that you’ve just been sitting here waiting for a link that you didn’t even know for sure was coming?”

Kaden’s expression suddenly went from one of self-satisfaction to surprise as he realized what she was asking, “No, I wasn’t… I mean, well, it is pretty late, right? I figured you’d be calling soon,” Kaden tried to explain, while his ears bent down in embarrassment.

Sorana swallowed imperceptibly and fought to keep her forehead from creasing further, “But, you had no way of knowing that I’d link for sure. What if… I hadn’t connected?”

This time Kaden’s expression turned a little confused and he just shrugged, “You always call,” he stated simply, as if it were an undeniable fact.

A dull pain suddenly bit into Sorana’s chest and she looked away as a deep sense of guilt flooded through her. She couldn’t believe how selfish she’d been, or how close she’d come avoiding this link just because of her own insecurity.

She looked up once more to find that Kaden’s confused expression had deepened to one of mild concern as he watched her reaction.

Taking a calming breath and shaking herself internally, Sorana returned her focus to her childhood friend and gave him a reassuring smile, “Happy Birthday, Kaden,” she congratulated, the same way she did every year at this time.

Kaden’s lips twitched at the corners, but he kept his expression calm, “Thanks, Sor,” he responded simply, sounding grateful, but not especially pleased. The excited flick of his ears, however, told a different story.

Sorana was mesmerized. This was the first time she had ever seen Kaden’s reaction to her yearly well wishes. He had always been busy or away when she tried to visit him in person and the times when he actually did pick up the link, it had always been a direct NID connection, so no video.

While she’d never been able to tell by his voice or actions, Kaden had the worst poker face she’d ever known and it was clear by his body language that he genuinely did appreciate her gesture. It was so obvious that it was actually kind of cute.

After shutting down certain observations with extreme prejudice, Sorana returned Kaden’s thanks with a nod and moved on to serious matters, “So… about your party?”

Immediately Kaden’s posture hunched and a frown replaced his half-hidden smile, “Why does there ‘have’ to be a party?” he questioned pleadingly.

“You can’t just ‘not’ have a party for your birthday, Kaden,” Sorana countered firmly. “Alister and I would feel terrible if we didn’t do something to celebrate and you’ve made so many new friends since you came to Nova. I’m sure they’d want to come too.”

However, Sorana was only half-serious about what she said. She doubted Kaden considered anyone he’d met since coming to Nova Academy anything more than an acquaintance or work partner. She also knew well that her tan-furred friend disliked obligator gatherings, even ones that were meant to honor him. The more people in attendance, the worse it was.

“You don’t really plan on just inviting everyone I know to a birthday party, do you?” Kaden asked fearfully, both cringing at the possibility and knowing full well that she would.

“Of course not,” Sorana assured him.

Kaden let out a sigh in relief. 

“I figured a few of ‘my’ friends might want to go as well. It’ll be a good chance for me to introduce you to them,” she added, without a hint of sarcasm.

Kaden’s expression sank back into abject horror.

Again, Sorana wasn’t being serious. While Kaden hated parties, she greatly enjoyed social gatherings, for the most part. They were in her blood, so this was how she highballed her childhood friend every year.

“You can’t be serious?!” Kaden questioned in disbelief, as the fear of not only attending a gathering of people, but of also meeting new ones formed a knot in the pit of his stomach.

Sorana pushed her lips back and forth as she pretended to think, “Hmmm, well I was considering a venue at one of the restaurants in the Art Field, but it’s not very large and we wouldn’t be able to get everybody in.”

“It’s fine,” Kaden insisted, desperate to diminish the numbers anyway he could, even if it meant going to the Art Field.

“Oh good,” Sorana smiled cheerfully, “but that will mean we’ll have to trim down the guest list to about ten.”

Kaden’s jaw tightened at the still painfully high number, “You know, ten’s a really bad number, Sorana,” he began casually, acting as if he were just thinking out loud. “They say that groups larger than four are bad dinner company. Something about people being excluded from conversation or something.”

Again Sorana pretended to ponder his words, “But, if we only had three people, besides you, it might making singing a bit underwhelming.”

At these words, the young tan-furred Lombax lurched slightly, as if he’d been physically struck in the gut, “S-sing?” he wheezed in shock.

“Of course!” Sorana pressed, seemingly oblivious to her friend’s reaction. “We can’t have a birthday party without cake, candles, and singing.”

Kaden shook his head in horror, any pretense of subtlety gone, “No… no, no, no… no way! There is ‘no’ way we’re doing that!” 

Despite the visceral reactions, Sorana was feeling pretty confident. She knew Kaden well enough to see that she had the advantage, so it was time for the hard sell.

“Here’s the deal, Kaden,” she began again, using a completely different tone now, “Just you, me, and Alister, we’ll have a nice dinner at a business-casual restaurant, followed by one birthday cake, seventeen candles, and one song no longer than sixty seconds.”

Kaden’s expression darkened and he became serious, “One candle, sparkler style, and no singing. I’ll even go to a…” he gulped hesitantly, “fancy restaurant. Tie and everything.”

This time Sorana considered the counter offer seriously. It was unheard of to get Kaden to dress up for a fancy dinner and the proposition was enticing. Any other year she would have taken it in a heartbeat, but this year she knew she could get more. This time she was going for the big fish, getting him to sit through a full happy birthday song in public.

“One sparkler candle, casual eatery and clothes, and one sixty-second song,” she insisted firmly. “I’ll even sing in a funny accent just for you. Then we can spend the rest of the night marathoning holo-games and/or vids of your choice. My roommate will be out, so we can use my dorm over your tiny box of an apartment.”

Kaden ground his teeth at the conditions, but went silent as he considered his options carefully. 

Sorana continued to eye him with an unwavering look, but inwardly she felt assured that she’d get what she wanted.

In years past she had needed to work Kaden for days with gentle prodding and pleading just to get him to agree to simple parties with family, which he always tried to weasel out of. Last year he even forgot about it entirely.

This year, however, Kaden was clearly on the back foot as he had last year’s mistake to make up for. On top of that, however, in the time since coming to Nova, he had deeply upset her at least twice. First, after MSE Tournament, and then after the CtD match.

The latter still made her queasy when she thought about it and she didn’t really like the idea of using it as leverage, but as she watched her tan-furred friend struggle with his decision, she knew he was still feeling guilty about it.

She fought to keep her lips from curling from the fact that the once far-away dream of having a ‘normal’ birthday outing for Kaden like ‘normal’ friends would was now within reach.

As Kaden continued to consider the offer on the table, his expression became frustrated, “Why do even want to do this anyway?” he asked desperately.

Sorana gave her friend a sour look, “Because that’s what friends do, Kaden,” she explained with mild annoyance.

Kaden shook his head, “But Alister’s said before that he couldn’t care less about this kind of stuff.”

Sorana shrugged indifferently, “Maybe if you were a little more cooperative, it wouldn’t be such a hassle for either of us.”

Kaden scowled, “You know as well as I do that Alister is just in this to watch me squirm,” he countered. “You’re the only one who really thinks this ‘needs’ to be a thing, so how about we do this... make it just the two of us. I’ll bump it back up to business-casual and even let you choose… ‘one’ of the holo-vids we watch.”

“Just… us?” Sorana repeated, as her mind found difficulty processing the words.

Then, with sudden realization, came the familiar feeling of a heavy heartbeat against her chest and her breath caught.

_ ‘What did he mean by that?!’ _ her mind demanded in a panic.  _ ‘Does he even know what he’s saying?’ _

Sorana’s childhood friend was suggesting that both she and him go out alone together for a moderately nice dinner, where she would be the only other living person celebrating his birthday with him. No matter how she looked at it, that was clearly a date.

And what about the rest of the evening? Had he considered that as well? She had already said that they’d spend the rest of the night watching movies and playing holo-games in ‘her’ dorm room. Was he suggesting this for just the two of them as well? Just the two of them... alone in her room for the rest of the night?

The implications of this last bit were slightly tempered by the fact that she and Kaden had slept in the same room before, but as children. Still, though, it was a bit much for her to accept and she was finding it hard to breathe.

However, as the initial shock of the proposition faded and Sorana looked up at the pleading expression on her friend’s face, rational logic began to set in.

She knew Kaden well, and so she knew that he likely hadn’t considered any of this. It was true that Alister would likely mock his discomfort due to his absurd hatred of being sung to in public and so the tan-furred Lombax was simply trying to save himself from it. He likely hadn’t put a single thought into what his words could mean beyond that.

Still, a part of Sorana wondered if Kaden, one of the most strategically intelligent people she’d ever met, was truly unaware of what he was suggesting. This shunned part of Sorana’s mind also questioned if he, in fact, meant to propose exactly what it sounded like... and also secretly hoped it was true.

Worst of everything, however... she was actually considering the offer.

“I hate how you do that,” Sorana growled quietly, angry at Kaden’s thoughtlessness, but even more so at her own runaway thoughts.

“Alright, alright,” Kaden appeased quickly, having heard the angry words clearly over the NID link and misunderstanding their meaning. “I’ll go with you and Alister, we can have dinner and cake and… ugh, sing. Whatever you want.”

Sorana, only now realizing that Kaden had accepted her previous offer, quickly brushed aside other thoughts and produced a suitably stern expression, “G-good,” she stuttered, forgetting the sudden dryness in her mouth.

Despite the lingering irritation she felt, though, Sorana was relieved that the ‘business’ part of her link was over. Now the two of them could finally chat like they used to and catch up on all that’s happened recently.

With a soft smile to her defeated looking childhood friend, Sorana changed the subject to one she knew he would like, “Now, about your present?”

Kaden’s ears perked immediately at the mention of gifts and Sorana caught a glimpse of his tail flicking behind him. This made her smile soften even further.

That being said, getting Kaden gifts was never an easy task. He was the kind of person who either went out and got something he wanted the moment he wanted it, or he simply made it himself. The only things that he wanted, but didn’t have already, were things he couldn’t get easily… which usually meant they were illegal.

“What about Tasolups?” Kaden suggested, as he always did.

Sorana rubbed her chin and considered the request. Tasolup chocolates ‘were’ her go-to gift. One of the few things that Kaden always wanted, but didn’t readily have access too.

But she soon shook her head, “I just gave you a box earlier in the semester,” she countered, remembering the get well present she’d gotten both him and Alister.

Sorana then felt a sudden tingling run through her chest as her own casually spoken words became an even more vivid reminder of something she was trying to forget. She shook her head lightly to remove the thoughts.

Kaden, on the other hand, felt a tingling for an entirely different reason. He didn’t have the heart to tell Sorana that he’d hadn’t gotten to eat the last box of treats she’d given him. Instead, he’d lost it to the wildlife of Sargasso and he fought hard against his instincts, knowing that, even if she was upset about it, Sorana would give him another box if he asked.

“Besides,” she continued, saving Kaden from further fighting his impulse. “I want to get you something ‘non-edible’ for your birthday. Something that you can enjoy for more than an instant.” 

Briefly, the back of Sorana’s mind wondered if the reason she wanted to give Kaden something lasting was that she wanted him to think of her more. Again though, she shook her head and brushed away these dangerous and unsubstantiated thoughts.

In the meantime, Kaden considered what he might want that wasn’t food, “How about a low energy modulator, one setup for multistage transistors?”

Sorana raised her eyebrows at the suggestion. Low-E mods were mainly used in the development of A.I. systems. As such, their distribution was heavily regulated, which was something that her family had some influence with. She knew this already because it wasn’t the first time he’d asked for them.

Again she shook her head, “They’re regulated for a reason, Kaden,” she pointed out sternly. “I wouldn’t mind seeing if my cousin would be willing to send me a few, but ‘only’ if I knew they were going to be used appropriately.” Sorana’s face then turned serious and she looked Kaden right in the eye, “Does what you’re planning to use them for fit the criteria of ‘proper use’?”

Kaden’s face turned to stone and he didn’t reply for a good few seconds.

“That’s a ‘no’, on the modulators,” she informed him, taking his silence as an answer. He expression then relaxed again, “Can’t you think of anything else you might want or need? New socks even?” she added sarcastically.

Kaden again thought hard about what he might want, knowing full well that Sorana actually did have access to some incredibly comfortable, quality socks.

Just then Kaden’s expression lit up with an idea. He opened his mouth to tell her, but was interrupted by a loud banging noise that echoed through the small pod in which Kaden was sat.

The tan Lombax looked confused as he turned to the door from which the sound was coming, before it was forced open with a painful whine of metal.

“What are you doing?!” demanded an irate, female voice from off the holo-screen. 

From Sorana’s perspective, she simply saw Kaden look away to his side as the familiar sounding voice continued, “You’re missing everything! Kor’s already lost three armored plates thanks to the thing’s suckers and we’re just two more away from it becoming like one of those foreign videos from the dark-net… not that I ever watch them… or have any idea what you’re talking about! What a ridiculous question, why do you ask?”

Kaden’s expression was flat, as if completely unconcerned by the voice’s words, “I’m having a personal conversation with my friend,” he answered with a gesture to the screen.

A moment later, Varin’s face eclipsed Kaden’s on Sorana’s holo-monitor, before it scowled with dissatisfaction, “Rich girl… of course.”

Sorana opened her mouth to respond, but was ignored when Varin turned back to Kaden.

“What could possibly be so important that you’re missing The Kraken’s combat test?” she pressed, unimpeded by the ‘personal’ call she was interrupting. The currently tan-furred female then returned her scowling face toward Sorana’s surprised one, before addressing her next question to the white-furred Lombax herself, “Is somebody dying?” she questioned coldly.

Caught off guard by the sudden interrogation, Sorana stuttered out a, “N-no, of course not!”

“Is there food involved?” she asked next.

“No,” answered Kaden this time. “We’ve taken it off the table,” he added sadly, his mind still stuck in the process of considering gift options.

“See!” Varin declared triumphantly. “There is nothing here that couldn’t be put off until ‘after’ the field test.”

Before either Sorana or Kaden could protest, Varin reached down and cut off the communication at the comm. station terminal.

Sorana’s holo-monitor was left blank and there was a long silence that followed as she simply stared in disbelief at the empty black frame of her screen, while her mind raced.

_ ‘He’s with Varin again!’ _ she declared inwardly, much more emotionally than she’d have liked.

_ ‘A few days ago he text-linked and said that he was building bio-weapons with Varin,’ _ her thoughts continued, despite her attempt to stem them.  _ ‘Have they been spending every day since then together in Synaptic Park where no one could contact them? For all anyone knew, it was just the two of them!’ _

Slamming her hands down hard on her desk, Sorana pushed herself up to her feet and the physical jarring forced her spiraling thoughts back into place.

‘ _ First of all, it was none of ‘her’ business what Kaden did in his free time… or with ‘whom’ he did it,’  _ her logical mind argued sternly.

_ ‘Besides,’ _ she added in a desperate attempt to calm her fears,  _ ‘Kaden and Varin? There was ‘no’ way that could be happening… right?’ _

* * *

“And so my ‘friend’ and this guy have known each other for a long time,” Sorana continued. “Like, a ‘really’ long time, but I’ve never really thought of him… like ‘that’, you know?”

“‘Your friend’,” corrected Varick as he sat across from where Sorana stood at his kitchen table and calmly listened to her story.

“What?” the tired-looking white-furred Lombax asked, too wrapped up in what she was saying to immediately understand what he meant. “Oh yes, right… sorry, my tongue slipped there. Ehm, so, ‘my friend’, definitely doesn’t have feelings for this guy, even after she found out about what really happened when they were kids. Recently, however, she has been noticing that this guy is spending, well, a lot of time with this ‘other’ girl now. They’re not dating or anything,” she assured Varick, but he hadn’t actually asked, “They just have a lot of... common interests.”

Sorana took a moment to sit back down, take a long drink from her cup, and refill her lungs with air, “It’s not like my friend is ‘jealous’ or anything like that… it’s just that... Kaden has never really had-”

“‘This guy’,” Varick interrupted again helpfully.

“Hmm?” intoned Sorana absentmindedly, “Oh, yes! Yes, ‘this guy’. This guy that ‘my friend’ knows. Anyway, ‘this guy’ has never really had a lot of friends, so ‘my’ friend wants to support him, but she can’t shake these… strange feelings. It doesn’t make sense though. I mean, ‘just’ because my friend found out that they weren’t so far apart after all… but she ‘knows’ that it could never work out! Even if I did like him like that, Kaden’s just too reckless to be in a ‘normal’ relationship with.”

“Your frien-” Varick began once more, but was cut off as Sorana slammed her cup down and stood up again.

“But still! No matter how hard ‘my friend’ tries, I can’t get the thoughts out of my head. I catch herself thinking about ‘this guy’ every time my mind wanders, she keeps digging through our text links for hidden messages like I’m looking for proof her friend is part of the Illuminati, and every time I find out he’s with ‘that girl’ I spend the rest of my day obsessing about what she and Kaden are doing together!”

Varick nodded his understanding to his breathless guest, “I-” he began, but was cut off once more.

“And who does she think she is, anyway?!” Sorana demanded, once she’d caught what was by now her fifth wind. “So what if my family’s rich, I have feelings too! My life isn’t all just fancy balls, vacations, and servants bearing trays of ridiculously expensive hors d'oeuvres! Though, I do go to a lot of balls… with hors d’oeuvres... but I don’t even want to half the time! And ‘I’ve’ been friends with Kaden for most of our lives, she’s only known him for, what, a few months at best?! How dare she hang up on ‘me’ when ‘we’re’ talking!”

At the end of the tirade, Sorana was left with hands outstretched as if to strangle someone and her face was bright red, even though her fur. She was heaving so heavily that one might have thought she’d just run a marathon.

This time Varick simply waited for her to calm down and did not respond.

Eventually, Sorana’s breathing was brought back under control and she slowly sank back down into her seat, before placing her face on the table and allowing her ears to flop down across its surface.

“What’s happening to me?” she asked, not angrily like before, but in desperation.

Varick simply continued to watch for a moment. He hadn’t moved a muscle since Sorana had finished her rant. 

Now that she’d calmed down, however, he slowly reached across the table, while making sure his guest wasn’t watching, and retrieved her cup.

When he’d poured her a drink earlier, he’d been sure that he’d only offered her juice, but all the same, he raised the glass to his muzzle and sniffed it experimentally.

The only thing his nose could pick up was the fresh scent of fruits and added sweeteners. Just to be safe though, he reached up and handed the vessel to his floating robotic assistant for analysis.

With hands empty once more, Varick then interlaced his fingers and laid them on top of the table, studying the still unmoved form of Sorana Bellit.

When the young Lombax had shown up to his door late at night, asking for his advice ‘for a friend’... for once, Varick had no idea what she could have possibly wanted. A part of him had thought something like this might happen one day, but he certainly wasn’t expecting it to reach a tipping point with him bearing witness, least of all not in his kitchen.

With a soft sigh, the recently woken-up President of the Science Field broke the silence, “If you’re asking ‘me’ what is right for ‘you’, I’m afraid that I can’t give you an answer,” he began soothingly. “However, if you’re asking what it is that you ‘want’, well, I think you already know... no matter how much you refuse to admit it. The unfortunate truth of life, my dear, is that we have very little say over what we feel... only of what we do.”

The only response that came from Sorana’s motionless form was a soft, muffled groan.

Varick took a sip of his own cup, he did feel empathy for Sorana’s plight, but they had already discussed this matter, “As far as what your choices are, I ‘did’ offer to help with this matter, in exchange for your help controlling Kaden, but you refused. Uninterested in him ‘that way’, I believe was what you told me. However, I’m guessing that those words had been a little easier to say back when you were the only living female he was willing to talk to without necessity.”

Sorana turned her head weakly, and stared up with cold eyes at Varick, “This is all your fault,” she stated with conviction. “The two of them only got so close after that horrible Capture the Depot thing…” Sorana then paused and raised her head off the table slightly, “Come to think of it, everything got worse after that.”

Varick shrugged unapologetically, “Kaden’s recklessness was of his own making. You of all people should know this,” he pointed out, but then he nodded his head in begrudging agreement, “However, I too was surprised by how well Kaden and Ms. Cross seemed to have gotten along. I guess such things just goes to prove how lombax nature of ‘this particular subject’ simply can’t be predicted.”

Sorana’s ears perked up and her face creased in confusion, “Who?” she said as she sat back up.

Varick gave the question an odd look, “Lorna Cross, Varin’s lab assistant. She and Kaden have been spending an inordinate amount of time together recently. Even now they’re together in Synaptic Park and have been for the past few days. I had assumed she was who you were talking about.”

Sorana looked at Varick with an utterly bewildered expression as he took another drink from his glass, “I was just talking with Kaden a couple of hours ago, on a vid-monitor from Synaptic Park. He was with ‘Varin’.”

Varick’s eyes suddenly bulged in surprise and he spat out his entire mouthful of liquid into the air. Like a whale breaching the ocean, a powerful spray doused everything in front of him, including Sorana.

The visibly shaken President of the Science Field continued to cough and splutter while Sorana simply looked straight ahead with a frozen expression of horror on her face as various forms of liquid dripped from her fur. 

It wasn’t so much the situation itself that stunned her, though that was pretty awful, it was the fact that she’d never imagined Varick was capable of being surprised, let alone this. The whole scene just seemed so foreign to her that she simply didn’t know how to react.

Once he’d finally got his airways cleared, Varick rounded on Sorana and fixed her with an intense gaze, “Are you ‘sure’ that it was Varin that you saw?” he demanded.

In any normal situation, Sorana would have expected an apology for the vile shower she’d just been given. However, since the situation was ‘far’ from normal, she simply considered the question on reflex and nodded once, her face still frozen in disbelief.

At this gesture, Varick’s expression turned dark, yet another surprising turn of events, and he left the table in search of his communicator.

As the damp and stupefied Lombax still sitting at the table watched the person that she thought was Varick raise a device up to his ear and begin demanding things into it, the tiny robotic assistant that was always with him floated over to her. Once next to her, it began to use precision lasers to vaporize the mixture of drink and saliva from her fur as well as to offer her a damp washcloth.

“A visual isn’t good enough!” Varick shouted into his communicator, before he paused to listen. “I don’t care what happened to the last person who went to check on her! If you don’t go in there and verify that it’s actually Varin in that lab, then ‘I’m’ going to be what you should worry about.”

After Varick’s assistant drone finished helping Sorana clean off, there was silence for a while, broken only by the sound of the Science Field president nervously pacing in his living room. Sorana just watched in a daze.

Suddenly, Varick stopped and his expression turned to one of absolute terror and he spoke one word, “Lorna?” 

After a few seconds of dumbfounded silence, he snapped out of his trance and his face became resolute, “This is a code black-twelve,” he declared calmly into his device. “Get me a lock on the current position of ‘Lorna Cross’ and send Second Squad to secure the area immediately.”

And with that, the white-furred president spun on his heel and headed for the door without another word.

Realizing that something important was happening, Sorana came back to life and quickly chased after him.

When she reached the door as well, she found that the hallway to his room was now filled with Nova Security robots. They all stood to attention as Varick streamed passed them, making for the grav-lift.

Intimidated by the show of force, Sorana hesitated, but decided that she needed to see where this went. Luckily for her, none of the robots stopped her as she followed behind Varick. 

She tried as best she could, but even her fastest formal stride couldn’t keep up with his rapid pace. In the end, she was forced to break into a short sprint to close the gap between him before he reached the lift doors.

As the gate opened for them, it revealed two guard bots waiting inside, the rest of the retinue in the hall had filled in behind them and would clearly get their own lifts down.

Varick swiftly stepped in without a word. 

At this point, Sorana was starting to second guess her decision as it appeared he was unaware of her existence. This was also likely her last chance to change her mind, but she persisted anyway.

After the doors shut behind her and the grav-lift began lowering, she kept stealing glances at Varick and the two imposing robots. 

The elder Lombax’s arms were folded and his eyes were set forward, staring a hole through the metal door. All the while his right index finger tapped impatiently on his arm. Whatever was going through his mind, it had his full focus.

“Ahem,” Sorana coughed timidly after a while, trying to gain his attention.

“Speak,” Varick said sharply. 

The tone of his voice surprised the younger Lombax, but she had already come this far, “Well, I was just wondering, what the big concern was?” she asked cautiously.

Varick took a deep breath, his chest rising as he did, before slowly letting it out, “Varin is a highly talented student, but she has a habit of causing trouble... an attribute I’m sure you’re all too familiar with. It’s not really that uncommon in Nova, actually. Because of this, I often have the actions of these individuals monitored whenever possible. Varin especially so. However, this policy has caused some… friction. In the past, she has tried extensively to avoid my monitoring, even going so far as to alter her physical appearance down to the genetic level. But, I’ve adapted to her tricks, opting for a more digital means of keeping tabs on her actions as time went on. Here in Nova, where one’s NID is scanned at every doorway, her movements were always known to me...”

...

“But?” pressed Sorana, as Varick’s pause extended a little too long.

Varick sighed again, “I’m sure you heard me on the link with the guards who were posted for Varin duty today,” he continued. “They’ve just checked on the location where our monitors say she should currently be, alone in her lab, but instead, her assistant was there, giving off an identical biosignature. Varin has always been able to fool bio-scanners and trackers, but I became overconfident, thinking she couldn’t override such advanced encryptions in her NID. Clearly, she’s found a way to crack them and I’ll give you three guesses on how... or should I say, ‘who’.”

Sorana went slightly rigid and tried hard not to look nervous, knowing full well that this was likely Kaden’s doing and feeling somewhat responsible for him out of habit. 

Varick continued when she did not say anything, “Now though, I see that she’s had free reign of the school for an unknown amount of time and I have no idea what she’s been doing with it.”

Sorana didn’t really know what to think about this new information, but she was still curious about one thing, “If you have no idea what she’s been doing, then why the big hurry?”

Varick sighed a third time and shook his head, “Varin is aware that I keep a close eye on her,” he explained, his eyes glued to the lift level counter on the wall. “The two of us have an unspoken rule. I overlook her more… ‘minor’ offenses, and she refrains from doing anything too terrible.” Varick’s tone told Sorana that this arrangement involved more than a bit of stress for him. “But now, by bypassing my monitoring, she has broken that rule.”

Varick paused for another moment, as if purposefully adding dramatic effect, “Ask yourself this, Miss Bellit: If someone under surveillance is still allowed to get away with virtually any small crime… then for what reason would they try to escape that surveillance?”

Sorana’s eyes widened, “To do something big,” she breathed out quietly as she realized the answer.

Varick’s rigid neck bent slightly to nod his agreement, “Next question then,” the steely Lombax continued, “How ‘big’ could this ‘something’ be if someone with Varin’s skill were to spend a suspicious amount of time with someone like Kaden.”

Sorana took a sharp breath as she recognized what the implications of the situation were, “Well, I guess we know they weren’t getting together for romantic reasons after all, huh?”  she added sarcastically.

Varick turned to look at Sorana for the first time since they’d left his room and his expression was one of amazement.

He then turned back to the level counter and even let out a short laugh, “The whole academy and everyone in it could be in danger and ‘that’s’ the first thing you think of? You’ve got it bad.”

“What, no! I just meant-,” but before the excuses could flow, the grav-lift chimed loudly and the doors opened. Varick was off again in an instant.

Once more, Sorana was forced to run after him as more guard bots jointed them.

“We’ll be at the lab where Varin is soon,” the president told her as they ran. “My guards have the place surrounded. They also tell me that Kaden is there with her. If you plan on coming along from this point forward, I warn you that it might get a little dangerous… and you might not like what you find.”

Sorana didn’t blink after hearing that Kaden was with her, “I’m not afraid of Varin,” she insisted.

Varick shook his head, “Well, I am. I have been since we were kids.”

Sorana cocked an eyebrow, “What?” she asked, thinking she must have heard Varick wrong.

Varick set his jaw, “I forgot to mention… Varin’s my sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent a lot of time writing little snippets all throughout this arc, jumping around and completing the scenes I felt in the mood for. Because of this, the ‘close call’ pun was something I had written months, possibly pushing a year, before the final draft of this was ready. When I did get back around to it, I had no idea what in council’s name I was talking about. I didn’t have quotation marks up for emphasis back then and it took me weeks of seeing it (highlighted red because I was going to get rid of it if I didn’t figure it out) every time I redrafted the chapter. The whole time I was just thinking ‘What the heck past me? You asleep while you wrote this?’ It caused me much more suffering that it should have.


	8. Shock and Ugh

“I’m telling you, silicon-based is the way to go,” Kaden insisted as he shoved his batch of prototype Nanotech forward.

But Varin just shook her head, “I’ve used silicon before and every time the repair process gets too taxing, they fall apart. Carbon-based is what we need,” she countered, reaching for Kaden’s tray of test tubes to move them out of the way.

“Now hold on,” the younger Lombax countered, reaching for the batch as well.

Overcompensating his actions, Kaden pulled back on his tray and it slipped from Varin’s grasp, spilling all over her own tray of test tubes.

“Now look what you did!” Varin barked, furious to see hours of her work wasted.

“What ‘I’ did?” retorted Kaden with an indignant huff, “You're the one grabbing at other people’s sensitive test trays like they’re plates of snacks you don’t like.”

Scowling with anger and frustration, the two opposing scientists looked away from each other in frustration, before staring in disappointment at their now ruined experimental materials… or were they?

Slowly, they both turned their heads back to face one another and eyed each other carefully.

“You got your siliconic tri-helio reprogrammable nanites in my carbonic mono-helical single-state nanites,” said Varin, a clear undertone of accusation in her voice, but there was oddly no immediate sense of anger.

Kaden eyed his partner as well, refusing to back down, “You got your carbonic mono-helical single-state nanites in my siliconic tri-helio reprogrammable nanites.”

The younger Lombax’s eyes then flicked back to the mixture for a moment, before they returned to Varin, “You know, my silicon-based nanites are ‘way’ more efficient than yours. A single one can be programmed to heal a wide variety of complex injuries and they require much fewer resources to manufacture… the only downside is that they can’t handle the more demanding injuries, like broken bones or muscle damage.”

Varin also glanced back at the mixture for a moment before looking back at Kaden, “Well, ‘my’ carbon-based nanites can heal even the most lethal of damages, the only downside is they use themselves up during the process and are fairly expensive to produce.”

The silence loomed for a long while as the crossing fire of harsh glares intensified.

““My idea!”” they both declared in unison.

“My tail it was!” shouted Varin first. “I was the one who picked up your tray of prototypes and held it over my tray.”

“Oh yeah?” countered Kaden, “Well, if I hadn’t tried to stop you, they would have just been put them down somewhere else. ‘I’ was the one who caused the spill!”

“Then, shall we ‘decide’?” Varin questioned, looking very intense.

Kaden began flexing his shoulder joint in response, “Whenever you’re ready,” he replied, accepting her challenge.

The two of them carefully stretched out their arms towards one another and began raising their hands up and down in unison as they chanted, ““Rock, Paper, Scissors… shoot!””

When the two limbs were brought down for the final time, Varin held hers in a fist for rock, while Kaden held his out flat for paper.

“Ah ha!” declared the male Lombax victoriously, almost jumping with glee. “I guess ‘I’ll’ be getting a hefty bonus from the Nova Science Review Board. But don’t worry, Varin, I’ll make sure your contributions are… ‘noted’.”

Varin growled her frustration, but she could not argue against the bylaws of Rock, Paper, Scissors, “Fine,” she grumbled in defeat. “Let me just get a copy of my formula data and-”

In a flash of fur and metal, Varin lunged at Kaden, swinging her arm up at his head while he was still mid victory dance.

The younger Lombax was surprised by the sudden attack, but even more so by his own reflexes, which had caught Varin’s arm just inches from his neck.

With eyes wide, Kaden looked up at the outstretched limb that had assaulted him and found a small syringe needle protruding from under Varin’s sleeve. It had been released from a hidden gauntlet device.

“What is that?!” Kaden demanded, as Varin continued to push it towards him, forcing his back against the lab table in the process.

“What, this?” she repeated sarcastically in a playful tone. “It’s just a little mix of chemicals to help make someone’s mind a bit more malleable. Don’t worry about the prototype Nanotech, my faithful student, you won’t remember it in a little while anyway.”

But, as the two continued to struggle, the sleeve on Kaden’s lab coat fell back as well, revealing muscle electrodes connected to his wrist. 

Varin’s eyes widened as she recognized the device. Used alongside a computing module, the device could rapidly convey minor motor controls to a nervous system. She then realized that Kaden must have used his NID to detect that she had thrown rock, before electronically adjusting his own throw at the last microsecond to beat hers.

“That’s cheating!” she shouted at Kaden, genuine indignation in her voice.

Kaden struggled against the syringe and replied through gritted teeth, “And what do you call this?” he demanded, equally indignant.

Varin just smiled wickedly at him, “Good question, let me ask you again in about three minutes!”

Despite Varin’s confidence, however, as the fight went on, it became clear which one of them had the advantage. Unlike Varin, Kaden made a habit of participating in dangerous and physically demanding activities. Even though the elder Lombax could artificially grow muscle at will, they were hard to make and difficult to maintain with both the fast metabolism she’d built into herself and the sedentary lifestyle she preferred. Kaden was definitely the stronger of the two.

Slowly, the besieged male Lombax was able to force back Varin’s hand. He literally turned the tables on her, forcing her back up against the workbench. Little by little he pushed her arm, along with the attached syringe, backwards until it pointed at her own neck.

“When we’re done here, I’m going to make you think you’re a chicken!” Kaden laughed as victory was in sight.

Seeing the direness of the situation, Varin pushed herself up onto the table until it was fully supporting her weight. Then, using her knowledge of Lombax anatomy, she dug the heels of her shoes deeply into her opponent’s kidneys, causing the younger Lombax to rear his head back and let out a loud howl of pain. 

Varin didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the situation either. She was quickly able to overpower Kaden’s weakened arms and force the needle back to within inches of his neck again.

Once the initial shock of the attack had gone, however, he was able to regain most of his strength and again held the needle at bay. In response to this, his elder mentor dug in even deeper into his sides and the pain prevented him from pushing the syringe back completely.

The two Lombaxes locked eyes, seeing clearly the other’s determination in them. They knew that only one could hold the patent… because dual-filing was too much paperwork.

* * *

Varick, Sorana, and a large group of Nova Guard bots arrived at the entrance to the designated research lab. 

Waiting outside its doors was another squad of security bots, along with a well-dressed robot standing at their head.

The uniquely slim mechanoid bowed its head when Varick approached, “Greetings, sir,” he said cheerfully. “I’ve had the other labs on this level evacuated and all exits locked down. NID jammers are ready to activate at your command, but the targets do not appear to be aware of us yet.”

Varick nodded, “I see. Thank you, James. Do we have a visual of the interior?”

“We do, sir,” answered James obediently.

“Show me.”

With a beckoning hand from James, Varick’s floating robot hovered down between the two of them, before opening itself up into a large holo-screen. James then reached toward the small mechanoid and plugged one of his fingers into its side.

The holo-screen shuddered with static for a few seconds, before an image appeared. It was a video feed was from inside the lab and it showed two Lombaxes within.

A female Lombax was laid out on her back across a lab table, while a male was on top of her, firmly wrapped between her legs. The two were moving as well, jostling back and forth in violent thrusts and shakes which threw lab equipment onto the floor in the process.

Varick studied the screen, stone-faced and intensely, “What am I-” he began, but was interrupted by the sound of a thud behind him.

The president, along with most of the gathered robots, turned to find that Sorana had collapsed to the floor. Clearly fainting after having watched the video from over Varick’s shoulder.

“Huh, I have never actually witnessed an organic do that,” noted James, genuinely intrigued.

Varick just shook his head, “We’ve both been having a rather unpleasant evening,” he explained vaguely. Then he turned to one of the guards, “Thirty-eight, you watch over the girl.”

The Nova Guard with the number thirty-eight painted on its chest saluted. It then turned to the collapsed Lombax and withdrew its arm-embedded gun barrel back into its palm, before sprouting a small air fan in its place.

Varick then turned back to James, “Breach it.”

* * *

Kaden struggled as the needle of Varin’s syringe grew ever closer. The crafty female Lombax had managed to get her free hand around his head and was using it as leverage to simultaneously pull him closer as she pushed the needle forward. To counter this, he had used his free arm to brace himself against the table, but she kept wrenching on his neck, pulling him closer each time.

Just as the thin metal tube kissed the fur of his neck, a sudden explosion shook the lab in a shockwave of force that caused its occupants to become unbalanced.

Both Lombaxes immediately relinquished their hold on one another and rolled apart, ducking away from the bits of door debris that clattered around them.

Before the smoke had a chance to clear, nearly a dozen large robots charged through the new opening, immediately surrounding both Kaden and Varin, and pointing rifle barrels at their vital areas.

Neither of the two dared to move and, when the smoke had settled, a tall, handsome Lombax walked into the lab with a confident stride and stern expression.

““Oh no, not you,”” chorused Varin and Kaden as one. ““What do you want this time?””

“Who, me?” asked Varick rhetorically. “I’m just stopping by to check in on my two favorite headaches- I’m sorry, I mean, ‘students’.”

But Varin and Kaden seemed to have already lost interest and were instead looking at each other with curious expressions.

““You know Varick?”” they asked simultaneously.

The President of the Science Field was surprised by their surprise. He had assumed that the two had been scheming against him, so he held his tongue and allowed the conversation to continue.

“Varick’s my mentor,” Kaden explained. “He bought my ‘fuzzy rights’ or whatever and he’s been making my life miserable ever since. He says its to help me ‘reach my potential’, but I think he just gets off on making people suffer.”

Varin vehemently nodded her agreement, “Same here. He’s been tugging at my fur ever since I came to Nova, always on my case about everything I do… also, he’s my brother.”

Kaden began nodding his understanding as well, but then he stopped mid-nod and his mouth fell open. The sudden revelation of Varin’s biology was jarring and he did a double take between her and Varick several times, “Why didn’t you ever mention that the president of our Field was your brother?!” 

Varin shrugged dismissively, “You never asked,” she countered. But, a moment later, her eyes narrowed, “Wait a second… I sign my name ‘Varin Adjunaris’. Not because I want to, but because it keeps a lot of people from bugging me about things like ‘permission’. It’s even written on my teaching profile. Are you telling me that you were my student for a whole semester and you never knew your own teacher’s last name?!”

This time Kaden shrugged, “I didn’t think it mattered, or that I’d need to remember who you were after that class. It seemed like useless information at the time.”

At this, Varin crossed her arms and looked upset, “I find that ‘extremely’ disrespectful,” she said in a tone that made everyone present question whether it was sarcastic or not.

Unflinchingly, Kaden stared right back, “Oh yeah? What’s my last name then?”

There was a brief silence where no immediate reply was given.

“That’s different,” Varin insisted with a dismissive wave of her hand. “A teacher’s not supposed to have respect for their students. It disrupts the learning process.”

Kaden’s expression turned indignant, “That’s a load of-”

“As intriguing as this conversation is,” Varick interjected, cutting off Kaden mid-sentence “I’m afraid I’m going to have to put it on hold. You’re ‘both’ in a lot of trouble.”

But the two younger Lombaxes simply looked back at him defiantly, ““Oh, go curl your tail,”” they both barked in annoyance.

Hearing their own synchronicity, the two then turned back to each other and looked deeply into one another’s eyes. It was at that moment in which they both saw a common ally that they hadn’t before. Someone who knew their pain and fought a common enemy.

In a move that made every Nova Guard in the room twitch their fire-‘arms’ reflexively, both Kaden and Varin took a step toward each other and embraced in a tight hug.

“You know what it’s like, don’t you?” asked Varin between mock sobs.

Kaden nodded his head vigorously, “I do, I do,” he moaned comically. “Everyday I wake up afraid that he’s going to be sitting in my room, ready to activate that stupid bed of his that I haven’t been able to disarm without it blowing up! Then, every time I get in trouble, he’s always waiting for me outside the disciplinary office with that giant, stupid grin of his!”

Varin squeezed tighter, genuinely relieved to know someone else understood her suffering, “Right? Every time I get caught doing something ‘moderately’ against the rules, he could use his influence to help his poor sister out, but instead, he uses it to throw the book at me! He’s a tyrant and he’s been like that since we were kids.”

“That must have been awful,” noted Kaden sympathetically. “I’ve only known him for under a year and it’s been a nightmare. I can’t imagine what ‘living’ with him must have been like.”

Varin nodded, “Oh, it was awful! And he never listens to anyone, either. This one time, our maid told him not to eat so fast, but he didn’t listen. When she wasn’t looking he ate even faster, then he choked on his food until he passed out. One of our robotic servants improperly diagnosed the reaction as a heart attack and they defibrillated him until he spat it out. I watched the whole thing.”

Kaden half-snorted before he muffled the sound with more fake sobbing, “That must have been hilarious,” he cried, trying hard not to laugh.

Varin continued to fake cry as well, but with a large grin on her face that she couldn’t hide, “It was. Then there was this other time that he got so excited for an extraplanetary trip that he drank too much and forgot to go before we left. He peed in his suit, but was too embarrassed to tell anyone, so he wallowed in his own urine for hours. He got a horrible rash and eventually had to wear a diaper filled with healing agents until the swelling went down.”

When one of the robot guards to his side let out a muffled, metallic laugh, Varick decided he’d had enough of this.

The tall, white-furred Lombax took a step forward, straightened his back, and inhaled a deep breath, “And then, Princess Varin, the most beautiful princess ever, rode away with the Sugar Prince into the Candy Castle, where they lived happily ever after, staying up as late as they wanted, eating all the candy they wanted, and making candy babies.”

Kaden paused his melancholy act to turn and look at Varick in utter confusion,  _ ‘What the heck was he talking about?’ _ he wondered to himself.

Varin’s expression, on the other hand, had turned into one of sheer horror as a terrifying sense of recognition sent ice through her veins. Recognition of words written in a diary by a very young and dumb child whom she’d tried to forget ever existed.

The embrace that the two had been sharing was suddenly broken as Varin pulled her arms back.

Kaden, still confused from Varick’s words, turned to see what was up, but instead felt the sudden force of two palms slamming ridiculously hard into his chest from the direction where Varin sat. The force of the blow was enough to send him backwards into the line of security bots, who reacted swiftly in seizing the Lombax and restraining him in an instant.

Once Kaden was safely disoriented, Varin spun her head around sharply, and just her head, like some crazed bird. She then rose to her feet, eyeing her brother with dark and twisted loathing. This caused several of the rifles aimed at her to be raised higher.

“I see you’ve come prepared to die today, brother,” noted Varin, a threat that all the security bots took to heart by taking a step closer defensively. “What will it be this time, hm? Poison, toxin, or maybe acid?”

Varick smiled knowingly before patting his stomach, “As much as I love your cooking Varin, I’m just not that hungry at the moment. Maybe later, back at ‘my place’.” 

The last words were spoken threateningly and Varin knew just what they meant... it was bad. Several of the robots took a step forward with claw hands outstretched, making it clear what they intended to do next.

“You see, little sister,” Varick continued, his words formal, but his expression dripping with menace, “The strangest thing happened today. I went to check on you, like any good brother would, but to my surprise, the Lombax that was giving off your tracer signal wasn’t you at all. Instead, I found Lorna, working diligently, right where ‘you’ were supposed to be.”

_ ‘Busted,’ _ thought Varin, though she suspected as much the moment Varick blew in her door. 

“I’m not going anywhere with you, dear brother,” the younger Adjunaris countered confidently. “You see, I’ve prepared for this, or should I say... ‘we’ve’ prepared.” She then turned to the still mildly dazed Kaden and shouted, “Now!”

Hearing the words, the restrained Lombax stood up as tall as he could within the grasp of the Nova Guards and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Get off my lawn protocol, Alpha-Gamma-Seven!”

In an instant, dozens of mounted security lasers and projectile weapons sprung out from around the lab. They came down from ceiling tiles, up from floor tiles, and some even appeared from behind fake lab equipment. There was more than enough to go around and, by the time they had all deployed, every robot in the room, plus Varick, had at least two red laser dots on them.

The thing that drew the most attention, however, was the large, glass tube that had risen up and out of the central lab table. Inside the clear container were wires that had streaks of electricity running between them which randomly flashed into life before disappearing again as if they were alive.

All of the robotic guards took a step back reflexively. They all knew a military-grade EMP detonator when they saw one.

The room was perfectly still after that, as nobody was willing to move given that everyone literally had a gun to their head.

Varick looked around at the impressive defensive system that had been installed secretly, despite his agents’ frequent sweeping of Varin’s labs. He then glanced at Kaden, clearly the key to the sudden standoff.

With a final glance backwards, Varick’s expression softened and he smiled. 

From where she stood, Varin saw this clearly. She hated that smile. 

“I was not as prepared as you, clearly,” the president said in honest admission. “However, luck would seem to be on ‘my’ side today.”

And with that, Varick took a step to his side, the red beams of the auto-turret lasers tracking his movement to the millimeter.

With Varick out of the way, however, he revealed someone else, a white-furred young female Lombax. 

Her expression was one of confusion and her hair was slightly disheveled. Her eyes looked to Varin at first, but then locked on Kaden’s.

“Oh crap,” muttered Varin, who also turned to see Kaden’s wide-eyed expression.

Sensing the danger, Varin thought fast, “How do we know that’s the ‘real’ rich girl? Not some hologram to trick us?” she demanded desperately.

Varick simply smiled again and Sorana, her eyes still fixed on her childhood friend said, “What did you do, Kaden?” in a shaken, yet stern voice.

The young male Lombax knew in an instant that she was the real thing, “Sorana, what are you doing here?” he asked, the typical fear of her wrath evident in his tone, but he also spoke with a great deal of concern towards the dozens-strong Mexican standoff that she had just walked into.

“What will you do now, Kaden?” asked Varick confidently.

“Don’t you dare!” barked Varin coldly.

“Kaden, I-” Sorana began again, taking a step forward as she did. 

But, the moment she crossed the lab’s threshold, two of the defense turrets broke off from previous targets and pointed their long red targeting lasers at her, one to her head and the other to her heart.

Without the use of his NID, which was being blocked by Varick’s security team, Kaden had no way of controlling what his defenses considered hostile aside from their pre-programmed friendly list of just himself and Varin.

His reaction was instant, “Delta-Six-Zero, ‘Stand Down’!” he ordered out loud. 

At once, the audio command was received and all of the red lines of light that had crisscrossed the lab vanished. A second later, the weapons themselves withdrew back into their housings.

Varin glared at Kaden with frozen eyes, “I knew your tail was too thin,” she hissed, before being tackled to the floor by several robot guards.

Kaden himself was forced forward and he felt an odd sensation of deja vu, but he had more pressing concerns.

As Varin was dragged from the room without another word, the Nova Guards brought Kaden before Varick and the tall President of the Science Field studied him curiously.

“What are you going to do now?” the young Lombax questioned defiantly, though he was still aware of Sorana’s presence.

Varick rubbed his chin in thought, “As far as you’re concerned, nothing… for the moment at least. I’m sure you had a part to play in Varin’s misdeeds, but to what extent I haven’t yet discerned. In any case, unlike my beloved little sister, you are not a flight risk.” Varick finished his sentence with a knowing glance to Sorana, who was oblivious to the gesture.

Kaden glared coldly back at Varick, but knew he could do nothing, “What about all the weapons?” he added, knowing that it must have been obvious that he was the one to illegally install them.

But this time Varick smiled at Kaden with genuine friendliness, “This is ‘Varin’s’ lab, isn’t it?”

And with that, the leader of the Science Field turned toward the exit, leaving a stunned-looking Kaden to watch him go. 

As all the robot guards, except the ones still holding Kaden, departed with their commander, the Science Field president called back to beckon for Sorana to follow him.

The wide-eyed, white-furred Lombax turned to look back at Kaden, but was unsure of what to do. She averted her eyes as she debated.

In the end, though, she decided that she wasn’t ready to face her friend just yet. She also wanted to know what Varick would soon find out about his and Varin’s activity together and so, she ran after the president.

Once everyone else had gone, the last few remaining robot guards released Kaden and told him to have a nice day. They left the young Lombax to stare blankly at a giant, gaping hole in the lab entrance… and a new Nanotech formula to patent.


	9. The Truth Will Set You Free

Varick paced the corners of the small interrogation room as he sifted through page after page of reports on his digi-pad. Many more digital documents and photos were displayed on the holo-monitors attached to the walls around him.

Varin sat at the opposite end of the large desk that took up nearly half of the room’s floor space.

The weary tan-furred prisoner watched her brother’s movements as he went back and forth, like he’d been doing for nearly ten minutes now. Whenever he turned away, she’d tug experimentally on the invisible chains that held the mag-cuff on her wrist to within a certain distance of the table.

Eventually, tired of waiting, Varin broke the silence, “I ain’t gonna talk, copper,” she spat in a forced, thuggish tone.

Varick sighed, “Oh, how I wish that were true,” he replied sadly with a shake of his head.

After pacing a few more times and reading a few more digital pages, the President of the Science Field finally conceded.

Stopping on a dime, the tall, white-furred Lombax turned a full ninety degrees and marched to the desk before tossing his digi-pad onto it, “Alright Varin, I give up! We’ve been through all your lab notes, your test samples, your chemical storage, your garbage logs, your garbage, even that fake diary you keep to distract me. While we found plenty of… questionable items, there was nothing in any of it that I would ‘need’ to do something about.”

Varin looked up at her brother suspiciously, “So then, what am I still doing with this on?” she asked, holding up her arm and emphasizing the metal bracelet locked around it.

Varick reached up to his face and exhaustedly massaged the bridge of his nose. He then pulled out the chair from the table across from his sister and took a seat, “You know very well why, Varin. You’ve rewritten your genetic code to match that of your assistant’s, then you managed to hack into the school’s security system and swap your verification ID with hers as well. I’m guessing Kaden helped with the latter?” 

Varin’s eyes only narrowed at the question and she did not answer. 

Varick continued, “As much as you like to flaunt your skills, I know that even the most seamlessly managed DNA resequencing is still extremely painful, difficult to pull off, and full of risks. If you had just changed your fur color like you usually do, maybe I’d overlook it, but altering your bone structure? To go this far to evade my observers, there’s no question in my mind that you must be up to something.”

“Listen here flatfoot,” Varin replied in her mock thuggish tone again, “either charge me with a crime or get my lawyer, cus’ I ain’t singin’.”

Varick groaned with irritation, “There are no laws here, Varin. You know that. If I wanted to, I could have one of the big, scary Nova Guards outside drag you to the edge of Mt. Supernova, tie a rope around your ankles, and hang you over it. I could then leave you there until you decided to tell me what you’re up to and nobody would say a word about it.” 

The Science Field president had spoken his words as intimidatingly as he could and, had they been used against over ninety-eight percent of the galactic population, they would have worked. 

Instead of cowing, however, Varin leaned forward, her eyes locked with her brother’s and a slight smirk on her lips, “You don’t have the tail,” she hissed, before leaning back in her chair. She was part of the other two percent.

Varick’s eyes narrowed coldly at his sister. Varin was right, of course, he would never stoop to such barbaric means to get what he wanted, although she ‘was’ making an excellent case for him to cross that line.

“At the very least, I could charge you for illegally militarizing your lab,” he pointed out.

Varin shook her head in annoyance, “Yeah, that would have worked great if that stupid rich girl hadn’t shown up.”

“Stop that, Varin,” growled Varick. “The Adjunaris family is one of the top one hundred wealthiest families on Fastoon. You’re worth nearly as much as she is.”

The younger Adjunaris glared at her brother angrily, “No, ‘I’m’ not, remember?”

Seeing that this line of questioning would go nowhere, the elder Adjunaris just sighed again and similarly leaned back in his chair. His eyes never left Varin’s as he tried desperately to read her. 

Of course, there was nothing in her expression, as she was used to this kind of treatment. So, the elder Lombax raised his hand to his chin and rubbed it reflexively as he pondered the situation.

_ ‘Things just don’t add up,’  _ he told himself for the thousandth time in the past hour.  _ ‘Why would Varin go through all this trouble? Besides the DNA thing, she must have asked someone, probably Kaden, for help with the ID swap and she ‘hated’ asking others for help.’ _

But, no matter how many times he read through the reports of his sister’s seized materials and properties, he could not find anything worth hiding to such an extent. If anything, when he looked over the reports of the past year, he noticed a ‘decrease’ in violent and/or just plain vile experiments overall.

Varick reached over and picked up his digi-pad again, hoping that one more look through the endless files and reports would show him something the other hundred had not. 

He then switched over to a summary report from the time before Varin had altered her DNA. His watchdogs had noticed the change then, but it wasn’t all that uncommon of a thing for her to do and they felt confident in their NID tracking. 

Just as he’d seen the last few times he’d checked, there was a clear dip in the number of red flags that the observers had marked for concern before this time, so it was still ‘Varin’ being tracked. The dip appeared to have happened about half-way through the current semester, right around the time when most students began selecting their classes for the next one.

After learning nothing new from this, Varick slid his fingers over his digi-pad and brought up the graphs showing the overlapping timelines where she and Kaden had spent time together. 

If it was hard for him to believe that his sister wasn’t planning something despite her strenuous efforts to hide her actions from him, it was even harder to believe that she’d spent so much time with someone as dangerous as Kaden and had not done something of serious concern. The very thought of what those two could accomplish made him shudder inwardly.

Minus the large sections in the graph where Kaden had fought in the CtD match and subsequently been sent to Sargasso, the two of them had spent an inordinate amount of time together in various lab facilities across Nova. 

There was an odd overlap where Kaden had been hospitalized for nearly three days after the match and Varin had spent a lot of time with him. Which seemed odd, seeing as how Kaden had been unconscious the entire time, but the reports he had received at that time did not reveal anything outwardly suspicious. Though, he did keep it in the back of his mind.

Everything after this was post DNA swap and had Varick not been tracking Kaden’s movements as well as Varin’s, he’d have had no idea about anything she’d been up to after that. This told him that, somewhere among the dots, lines, and timestamps, his sister was hiding something big.

“You didn’t know that Kaden was my protégé, did you?” he asked suddenly. 

Varick needed something to go on, anything, but he doubted he’d find it in his notes, so he returned his focus to Varin.

“I don’t ask people about their traumas and life hardships,” the angry tan-furred Lombax answered bitterly.

“So, I guess that means you weren’t aware I was tracking ‘his’ movements as well?” he added.

Varin shrugged, “I just assumed that you curl your tail on stalking everyone,” she stated simply. “Of course, that includes Kaden.”

Even though Varick had his eyes on his digi-pad, the handheld device was actually showing him a live feed of the interrogation room that he and his sister were in. Because of this, he noticed the slight tightening of her jaw at his comment.

With that small, unintentional gesture, he knew he was onto something. It was abundantly clear that, whatever Varin was trying to hide, Kaden was involved.

However, despite having suspected this in the first place, all the reports he’d gathered so far made it look on paper like the two of them were simply co-collaborators on many recent research projects. Complete with pages upon pages of ‘properly’ filled acquisition requests, disposal reports, and Science Field patent applications. The question was ‘what was in there that Varin was trying to hide?’

_ ‘Unless…’ _ Varick thought as his eyes narrowed at the various pages of data he was flicking through.

“I hear that the Tough Nuts’ little scuffle with Kor is resolved… for the most part at least,” he asked in a casual, almost friendly voice.

Varin didn’t react to the change in tone and grinned snidely at her elder brother/interrogator, “Don’t worry bro, you’re still my most hated living ball of shower-drain fur,” she assured him.

But Varick was only half listening to her insults. His fingers were now flashing across the various holo-images on his screen, clicking and collecting data files he wished to review and compare, at a blinding pace.

As he inspected the data closer, he found an odd section that dated to around the time of this recent late-semester, where many classes, such as the practical labs that Varin taught, came to a close. 

This span of time held report after report which showed that there wasn’t just a lack of red flags being marked, but a lack of productive activity from Varin on the whole. In fact, there were entire twenty-four hour periods where she hadn’t logged a single entry into her experiment records.

Even more noteworthy, however, was one report which showed that his crazed scientist sister had accidentally used sulfuric acid instead of phosphoric acid in a lab test. This had been a mistake. Varin did not make mistakes.

“Also, we’ve just passed the late-semester mark didn’t we?” Varick continued as if he and his captive were just having a cordial conversation over lunch.

Varin continued to eye him coldly, cautious of the change in tone now, “Asks the guy with the all-knowing digi-pad to the poor girl mag-locked to a desk,” she replied, choosing her words more carefully now.

Getting the truth out of Varin was a very tricky art, given her extensive experience with this little dance of minds. Varick himself had interrogated her like this on numerous occasions, but even before that, growing up in the Adjunaris household had a way of hardening you against leaking information.

Varick nodded and grinned as if his ‘lunch-buddy’ had just complimented the weather, “Most of the practical labs for your level two students should be all wrapped up by now, right?” 

Varin nodded, as if she agreed with what her brother said, “Speaking of wraps,” she replied back in an equally casual manner, “you know what I could really go for? A burrito.”

Varick’s lips twitched slightly, touching just barely into the realm of a ‘genuine’ smile at the off-topic comment. The truth was that Varin had little skill for word-games and often wore her thoughts on her sleeve, but, when she wanted to hide something, her go-to move was to simply refuse participation in the battle of wits altogether. 

“I also see that they’ve received their final grades already. And that you’ve managed to fail most of them… again,” he noted next.

“You know what this room could use?” Varin replied, out of sync with the topic as she looked around thoughtfully, “to spruce it up and make it look nicer I mean? Anything that isn’t your face.”

Varick, his eyes still pointed downward, reached up and rubbed his chin again,  _ ‘Ignoring an opportunity to ridicule her students?’  _ he wondered curiously. Very unVarin-like.

Due to Varin’s method of interrogation defense, he had no accurate way of gauging how close he was to the truth. He just had to hope to hit close enough to the truth to cause a reaction.

“I guess that means your working relationship with most of them is over now. Must be a huge relief for you, huh?” he continued.

“I had a relationship with your ‘mom’!” Varin smirked back crudely.

_ ‘If that had been true, maybe things could have been different,’ _ Varick thought sadly.

No sooner had the thought been whispered, than the ironclad grip of the Science Field president’s mind had crushed it into a mere feeling before tossing it aside and out of focus. Such thoughts of the past had no place in the present and especially no place in this room. He briefly chided himself for his slip and returned to the task at hand.

He was also sure that Varin’s particular response had no bearing on reality either. She had gotten over her past a long time ago and had likely only said such a thing reflexively. 

This revealed just how detached her thoughts were from the conversation. His only hope now was to offer a comment that damn near hit the nail on the head. If he didn’t, then he had nothing.

It was time for the final push.

The imposing, white-furred Lombax rolled his stiff shoulders and licked his mildly dry lips, before putting his digi-pad down, but still not looking up at his sister, “I find it strange then…” he began inconspicuously, while Varin pretended to be interested in her nails. “No. I find it… ‘interesting’ that, even though you failed most of your students, one seemed to have passed with fairly decent marks.”

Again, Varick was watching the live feed from the interrogation room security cameras. Through them, and with Varin’s guard slightly lowered from believing that he wasn’t looking at her, he saw her ear twitch slightly.

A tug on the line.

It wasn’t much of a sign, but it was more than enough for Varick, “In fact,” he continued as he swiped his fingers several times until he found what he was looking for, “This particular student passed your lessons with flying colors, a whole ‘B-’. That’s the highest grade you’ve ever given anyone.”

The younger Adjunaris sat up straighter in her chair now and eyed her brother irritatedly, “He’s pretty good with biomechanics,” she admitted. “Not nearly as good as me, of course, but better than most. After all, you made him your protégé, didn’t you?”

Varin was not liking where this conversation was going. From her brother’s cheerfulness to his odd line of questioning, she was beginning to get a familiar sense of foreboding.

Varick, on the other hand, was feeling emboldened. He hid this feeling from his face, but to him, hearing Varin actually compliment someone ‘other’ than herself was proof that he was getting close.

He then opened up another file that had been nagging at him for a while, “Dr. Osectis reported that you were tampering with patients again,” he noted offhandedly.

Varin glared coldly at her brother, taking his words as an insult, “I wasn’t ‘tampering’ with anything,” she growled. “And I did my time for that,” she added.

To her surprise, Varick nodded his agreement, “Yes, I know. Dresden wrote as much in his report. ‘The subject’s muscles had been grown back exquisitely. There wasn’t a single under or overstimulated fiber in any of the newly grown bundles.’ The good doctor even noted that he’d have been hard-pressed to see such clean work, even had he assigned a team of his specialists to the task.”

A slight grin curled the corners of Varin’s lips at hearing such praise from her old mentor, but she fought the urge and quickly reset her jaw, “How’s the tail, by the way?” she asked smugly. “Still keeping you up at night?”

Instinctively, Varick felt a twinge in his tail at the mention of the injury he’d sustained when he was younger. He had no proof, but he was sure Varin had activated the door sealing sequence on purpose.

However, the ghosts of pains past were quickly overshadowed by the impending sense of encircling his target. Varin was resorting to her bag of insults that she knew were guaranteed to draw a reaction from him, even if he didn't show it. This was even more proof that he was on the right track.

It was at that moment that the steadfast president finally found the file he was looking for. It had been archived rather than added to his digi-pad for review as it hadn’t been tagged by his investigation team. This was because there seemed to be nothing in it that they had found suspicious. They, however, hadn’t known what to look for.

As Varick quickly searched through the file, a wide grin spread across his face. It was the first time he’d let his thoughts openly slip out.

Varin hated that grin.

“That was quite the practical field test you did yesterday, wasn’t it?” Varick asked eagerly, like a predator closing in on its prey. “The one with the Kraken?”

“Two days ago,” Varin corrected, as flatly as she could.

Varick looked at the time on his digi-pad and found that they were now well into the morning. He wasn’t annoyed by this though, he could sense Varin’s desperation in her voice.

“Must have taken a lot of preparation and planning,” he continued. “You even got all of the permits and usage requests filed and approved... both legally ‘and’ on time.”

Varin eyed him suspiciously, “What are you getting at?” she demanded, tired of this game already.

Varick’s grin split even wider and he looked up at his sister for the first time since sitting down, “Of course, dear sister, I’m just saying that it must have made a great gift.”

Miraculously, even though he was staring straight at her, Varin’s expression immediately revealed her thoughts to him. It turned from angry indifference to one of horrified realization.

Like a beast smelling blood, Varick pounced, slamming his digi-pad on the table and standing up. At the same time, the wall of holo-monitors behind him went blank, before being replaced by a digital calendar with a familiar schedule on it, along with several other open files.

These files represented a trail of data that ended on the day of the Kraken demonstration, but had been backtracked all the way to a distant, recycling-bin-recovered rough draft of a Bio-weapon Combat Test application. There, typed into the footnotes of the request, was written the words ‘For Kaden’s birthday.’

“Admit it, Varin!” roared Varick, wild-eyed and sure of himself. The fact that Varin even knew when Kaden’s birthday was all the proof he needed.

“You’re wrong!” Varin shouted back, relinquishing any semblance of subtle control as she pulled hard on her mag-cuff. Phantom-like flashes of a tether line flickered in and out of existence, but it did not break.

“I ‘know’ your productivity went down and that your experiments suffered just before your role as Kaden’s instructor ended. My young protégé was never really a lover of organic science, so no surprise he didn’t choose any for the following semester. What’s the matter, having trouble with motivation for your work after this revelation? It’s almost like your mind was stuck on something.” 

The elder Lombax pressed harder, leaning ever closer to his cornered sister,  “But, I also know that your productivity skyrocketed shortly after that, right around the time you changed your DNA and started hiding from my trackers!”

“That’s just a coincidence!” Varin insisted, slamming her still cuffed fist into the desk as she tried to break the manacle.

“Coincidence?” laughed Varick. “There are no such things as coincidences, not in this world. Just like it was no coincidence that, after Kaden began training with the Tough Nuts and you got a reason to keep in contact after your class with him finished, you suddenly found your motivation again. Or, that after he began working with you directly, the amount of scientific research you submitted nearly doubled!”

Varin shook her head in denial, but refused to look up at Varick anymore, “It’s not what you think,” she refuted desperately, “he’s just handy with data! He’s nothing more than a calculator!”

But Varick’s knowing grin never wavered, “Oh, he’s more than that.” This time it was his turn to slam his hands on the desk, “Confess! You and Kaden are actually… friends!”

“Noooooooo!!!!” Varin howled as she grabbed both her ears and pulled them down tight toward her chin in an attempt to block out the sound.

But Varick showed no mercy, “Face it, Varin, you and Kaden ‘work well together’.”

“Gah!” the tan-furred Lombax gasped painfully, pressing her hands against her heart and feeling the accusation as if she’d been physically stabbed.

“You ‘value his opinion’!”

“Ughhh” Varin groaned, grasping her stomach and looking as if she were about to be sick.

“The evidence here all proves it!” Varick declared, leaning in closer for the finishing blow. He then whispered into his sister’s ear, “I bet you even... ‘enjoy his company’.”

Varin screamed out in pain and jolted as if being struck by lightning. Her brother’s these ‘shocking’ words causing her to shudder with agony, before curling her limbs toward her body and gasping for air, unable to accept the facts that had been laid out before her.

Then, like a great tree being felled by the final chop, the younger Adjunaris toppled forward onto the table.

As the echoes of Varin’s cries faded, a great sense of calm slowly fell over the interrogation chamber. 

Varick, breathing a sigh of relief, retook his seat across from his sister. His sense of relief primarily being that Varin had not been planning something diabolically fitting of some amateurish action/adventure novel, but there was another reason too.

Ever since they were kids, Varin had always been angry towards those around her. While Varick didn’t particularly blame her for this, as she got older, she had miraculously become even worse. 

It had gotten so bad that the very idea of being friendly towards others was anathema to her, so much so that she’d go to absurd lengths just to deny that she was even capable of something like ‘friendship’, even to herself.

“It’s not true,” Varin continued to moan softly in defeat. “Guys and girls can’t be friends, it’s not genetically possible,” she added, searching desperately for any excuse that would allow her to counter reality.

Varick couldn’t help but smile at the surprisingly childlike reaction. 

As president of the Science Field, he was satisfied to know that the relative safety of his students and the galaxy at large was secured. As a brother, however, he was slightly warmed by the thought that his little sister had finally found someone she could connect with... in her own ‘very’ weird way, at least.

_ ‘Who would have thought?’ _ he wondered to himself, his grin widening. 

Close to a year ago, when Varick had first read the file on Kaden, he’d seen someone with a large amount of potential, but he’d mostly just seen a serious hazard and source of future headaches.

That assessment hadn’t been wrong, he mused, but he would never have predicted that the young borderline cyber-terrorist would get along so well with his borderline bio-terrorist of a sister.

...

Actually, now that he thought about it, the whole thing started to make sense. In fact, the more consideration he gave it, the more Varick realized how similar the two actually were. 

Apart from their opposing fields of expertise, Kaden and Varin seemed like the perfect fit.

And it was then that another thought crossed his mind. A possibility on which, perhaps, Sorana’s intuition had already hit the mark.

His younger sister’s philosophy, though misguided, had some truth to it: relationships with the opposite gender tended to be much less… predictable than others. He had been so amazed by the thought of Varin actually making a friend for the first time in her life that he hadn’t even considered if she was ‘capable’ of going even further.

Leaning forward in his chair again, Varick eyed his sister yet again and studied her closely. She was still lying face down across the table, grappling with the horrible reality that she had become ‘sociable’, even if under the greatest stretch of the word’s definition.

“Varin,” he began in a simple, flat tone. Varin’s only reaction was a slight shake of her head, but it was enough to say that she could hear him, “are you... in love with Kaden?” he asked point blank.

Suddenly, Varin’s languishing stopped and her body stiffened. 

Slowly, the tan-furred Lombax raised her head off the table to reveal the expression of someone who had just heard the most ridiculous thing ever uttered in lombax history, “Are you insane?” she questioned with genuine concern. “Of course I'm not, this isn’t some stupid rom-com from a Saturday cartoon… it’s an action/adventure sci-fi at best!”

But Varick was unconvinced. Ignoring her dissociative way of defining reality, he pressed for more, “So, you ‘don’t’ think of Kaden in any sort of romantic way?” he questioned in as unaccusing a tone as he could. “No thoughts of one day professing your feelings, going out on a date, or even becoming physically intimate?”

Varin’s eyes narrowed, “Is this some new form of interrogation? Because if so, it’s working, because I’m really creeped out,” she admitted before placing her hand over her chest. “I swear to you, on whoever's heart this is, that I have ‘never’ thought of Kaden as anything more than a friend… No, wait! I mean, lab assistant... I mean test subject! We’re not friends!”

The elder Adjunaris lowered his gaze back down to his digi-pad and pretended to study it as he processed what he’d been told. He quickly shifted through the more distracting parts of his sister’s answer in his head, focusing only on what was important.

Varin had been so caught off guard by the questioning that she even admitted to secretly considering Kaden a friend. Varick was at least sure now that her motivation behind escaping his observation until now was to hide this fact, one that she was clearly embarrassed and ashamed of.

From this, he found that he honestly believed what she had said about having never thought of Kaden in a romantic sense. However, true feelings were hard to discern at the best of times, one only needed to look as far as Sorana to see that. 

With someone as twisted and jaded as Varin on the other hand, things were even more convoluted.

“So then,” Varick continued, turning his attention back to his sister, who was still trying to backpedal on having admitted her friendship with Kaden, “Why not? As you’ve said repeatedly, ‘guys and girls can’t be ‘just’ friends’, so if you and Kaden are so close, why not be ‘more’ than friends?”

“We’re not friends,” Varin insisted once more, but her brother did not react to her words. Instead, he simply watched her and waited for her to answer his question.

Eventually, Varin sighed in concession, “Where to begin?” she asked out loud. “First off, all romantic feelings are just an imbalance of hormones, there’s no such thing as ‘love’. I once made a lab assistant of mine fall in love with their own foot, so I know what I’m talking about. Even if I ‘did’ have romantic feelings for Kaden, which I don’t, I would just take an anti-hormone injection and be done with it.”

Varick nodded, “I see. Any other reasons?”

Varin wrinkled her muzzle in annoyance, “Plenty! Being in a relationship is like being in a prison! Not only do you have to figure out what ‘you’ want to do, but you also have to figure out what ‘they’ want to do. What they like to eat, what they like to watch. That’s twice the effort for everything you do and you probably won’t even be able to enjoy half the things you want anymore. Who would do that to themselves?”

“Some fairly good points,” Varick agreed, still nodding as he spoke. Inwardly, however, he noted that all of Varin’s arguments were deriding relationships in general, but she said nothing about the negatives of having one with Kaden specifically.

“Let’s try something else,” the president continued, still speaking in a non-threatening voice. “And, if you’ll just indulge me in this request, you’ll be free to go. I won’t even charge you for weaponizing your laboratory. What do you say?”

Varin’s expression scrunched as she studied her brother. She was intrigued by the offer, but extremely suspicious, “What’s the deal?” she asked, sure she wasn’t going to like it.

Varick sat up straighter in his chair, “First, I want you to imagine that you and Kaden are out on a date.”

The younger Adjunaris raised one eyebrow curiously, before looking around the room in confusion, “I-is this a joke?” she questioned, still searching for some kind of reality T.V. setup.

Varick simply shook his head, “Not at all. Just humor me, please. I promise I have a point.”

Varin crossed her arms and eyed her brother for a moment, “What… what ‘is’ a date… exactly?” she asked, genuinely unsure of the concept’s details.

The elder Adjunaris had to stifle a laugh, which he did with practiced ease. The response was just so ‘Varin’ that it was hard not to at least smile.

With a balanced tone meant to avoid offending her in any way, Varick explained, “It can be anything really. Something that the two of you would do together, something that you both enjoy.”

Varin shrugged, “I guess... working together on experiments in the lab isn’t so bad,” she offered reluctantly.

“Excellent. Imagine that then,” Varick pressed.

Varin’s eyes narrowed, “We were doing that the day before yesterday, before you and your Nova tin cans busted in my door!”

“Good. Good,” the president nodded, ignoring the anger being directed toward him. “And, what was ‘that’ like?”

“Productive,” she answered flatly with a shrug.

Varick nodded, “And, did you enjoy your time working with Kaden? Did you feel happy when the two of you spent time together like this?”

Seeing where this was going, Varin spread her arms out, “Sure, I was ‘happy’, but only because we got things done! I would have been just as ‘happy’ with anyone else even half as talente- er, I mean ‘useful’,” she rephrased carefully.

“Uh, huh,” intoned Varick as he held his chin thoughtfully. “Alright, next one. I want you to imagine that you’re far into the future... and that you and Kaden are getting married. What do you feel?”

To his surprise, Varin didn’t react to the question in a negative way at all. Instead, she simply raised her gaze upwards and seriously pondered the situation. 

Varick was so stunned by this response that he had to wipe the mild look of confusion off his face by the time she returned her attention to him.

“Sounds good,” Varin admitted with a nod of her head. “As long as I don’t have to do anything fancy for the wedding, that is.”

“Wait, so you’d actually marry Kaden, willingly?” Varick questioned, fighting hard to keep any intense emotion from his face. 

Varin nodded again, “Sure. Technoscience is consistently much more successful commercially than bioscience, plus I’m sure Kaden’s never even heard of a prenup.”

Varick felt his muscles relax subconsciously, realizing only now that they’d tensed in the first place, “I don’t know if I should ask,” he continued with a solemn tone, “But what about having kids together?”

“Kids?” repeated Varin in confusion. “You mean clones? Yeah, I guess we could have a few of them, but I’d have to tweak their DNA a bit to convince him they were his.” She then looked at her currently tan-furred hands, “Or, I guess I could just keep this sequence when I make the templates for the fur tone.”

Feeling a wave of exhaustion, the President of the Science Field put his tired face in his hands and massaged his temples gently, “One more Varin,” he breathed as he removed his hands and eyed his twisted sister again. “Answer this last one and you can go.”

The tan-furred prisoner studied her white-furred captor carefully for a moment, before folding her arms again, “Alright, let’s do this.”

“I want you to imagine...” Varick began hesitantly, “Imagine that you are kissing Kaden. Your faces are close, your lips are touching, and his scent is all you can smell. Describe what it feels like.”

Varin’s keen interest in getting this, the weirdest interrogation of her life, over with quickly evaporated from her face, “Is this… some kind of sexual harassment?” she asked suspiciously. “Because, if it is, I’m sure the fact that you’re my brother makes it at least twice as illegal… and at least three times as creepy.”

Feeling his limit approaching, Varick’s expression thinned with annoyance, “Just do it, Varin. Do it and we can both get out of here.”

Still eyeing her deranged elder brother, Varin reluctantly complied with the request. 

First, she tried to imagine Kaden’s face. She rarely looked directly at people, so she didn’t really have a good image in her head, but she’d recently spent a lot of time with him, so it was better than most. 

Next, she tried to imagine the two of them with their faces close. She could smell the same burnt wire and ozone scent that he always exuded, all the while getting closer, slowly, until their lips almost touched.

Across from his sister, Varick’s irritated expression shifted into one of curiosity as he watched her eyes lose their focus on him. 

Next, her lips began to wiggle almost imperceptibly. 

The president’s eyes widened in surprise, he had not really expected Varin to go through with this.

Even more surprising, the chaotic younger Adjunaris’ eyelids began to flutter as her mental image deepened. Each time they did so, they came back a little closer together, until they closed completely.

Without realizing it, Varick had leaned across the interrogation table by the time he finally asked, “Well?”

“It’s,” Varin began, unsure of how to answer at first. Then her eyes opened wide and annoyance was written all over her face, “It’s wet.”

Varick slowly leaned back into his chair, “Just… wet?”

“Really wet,” Varin elaborated, wrinkling her muzzle in disgust. “And it tastes like those stupid cheese doodle things he’s always eating. Do you know they aren’t even made with real cheese? It’s ground up Orange Wood Beatles, I ran a protein profile on them. So gross.”

But Varick only heard the first part of her answer and was studying his younger sister intensely, “And, you felt nothing else?”

Varin rolled her eyes and groaned, “I don’t know what it is exactly that you’ve gotten in that crazy skull of yours, or even why you care, but I don’t ‘like’ Kaden like that. He’s not... bad, and I’ll admit that I ‘do’ enjoy working with him, but I’m not in love with him just because he’s the first guy I ‘kind of’ get along with. Okay?”

Varick continued to study his sister while carefully considering her words, “So, let me just get this straight,” he began as he sat up in his seat again and brought his hands together for emphasis. “Not only did you actually, willingly imagine locking lips with another living, conscious lombax being, but afterward your first reaction was ‘wet’... not a sudden wave of nausea and revulsion to the point of physically being sick, nor were you overcome with the powerful urge  to develop a pathogen meant to wipe out all Lombaxes of the male gender… again? ”

This time, it was Varin who studied her brother carefully while considering his words.

She didn’t say anything at first and her expression was flat, but Varick could see the gears slowly turning in her head, so he just waited patiently.

Then, after several long seconds of silence, Varin’s eyes suddenly opened wide and she inhaled violently until her lungs were ready to burst. Terrifying realization was written across her face and she spoke without letting a single breath of air escape her throat, “I like Kaden...”

Across the table, Varick slumped back in his chair and let out an exhausted sigh. Even after all of this, with Varin, nothing was clear cut. He wasn’t even sure he believed that she was capable of romantic feelings, but one thing was for sure: things just got more complicated.


	10. All's Fair

An exhausted President Varick Adjunaris approached the door to his Nova Academy home and found his loyal servant James waiting for him outside.

The ever-cheerful automaton bowed deeply as he approached with his retinue of Nova Guards marching in step behind him.

“Welcome home, sir,” James greeted. “I trust that your endeavors have been ‘revealing’?”

The President of the Science Field managed a tired smile, “As usual James, dealing with my adorable little sister has left me with more questions than answers.”

James offered a mechanical nod and a metallic grin, “Yes, the young mistress has always been a unique one. I’m just glad to see you back home with all your bodily functions under control.”

Varick laughed at this, but then his expression turned serious, “How is ‘she’ doing?”

His metal features also becoming serious, James answered dutifully, “She is still a little shaken, it would seem that she had been in some state of anxiety even before this matter. But, exhaustion eventually won out over worry and good night’s rest has revived her constitution, though my academy-famous honeyed tea also helped. She now eagerly awaits your findings, sir.”

The white-furred Lombax groaned good-naturedly, “No rest for the weary, huh James?”

“No, sir,” answered James in his ever cheerful tone. “Not until one’s eyes close for the last time.”

Varick patted his robot servant on the shoulder affectionately, before waving his armed guards away and entering his room.

* * *

“From what we know so far, Todd,” answered Dana Tayori on the extra wide holo-screen in Varick’s apartment, “President Adjunaris himself personally ordered the evacuation of the 38th floor of the Science Field.”

“I’m being told that level 38 is home exclusively to small, private labs,” Todd Barita replied to his on-site counterpart from where he sat in the anchor room. “Any reason why it would need to be evacuated?”

Dana shook her head, “No official reason has been released by the Adjunaris Administration at this time, but there were reports of an explosion shaking the level shortly after the order was given. We even managed to find a straggler who claims to have witnessed the event.”

The frame of the Solar Flare news channel reverted back to a previously recorded interview where Dana Tayori was standing next to a young, tan-furred Lombax.

From where she sat on the large and extravagantly soft couch, Sorana’s heart skipped a beat when she recognized Kaden.

“You said that you witnessed Nova Guard security bots storming laboratories all through the morning?” Dana asked Kaden.

The tan Lombax stared at her awkwardly for a few seconds before answering, “Y-yes… I did do ‘that’,” he answered, appearing shaken and wearing a look of concern on his face. 

To anyone else, it would appear as if he’d been through some kind of trauma, but Sorana knew right away that he was just stumbling his way through a fabricated tale that he knew he was going to get nailed for any second.

“W-when I received the order to evacuate,” Kaden continued nervously, “I was in the middle of a ‘dangerous’ experiment and I couldn’t just leave it unattended. When I finally secured my ‘dangerous’ materials, I left my lab and found Nova Guards taking equipment from dozens of other labs, almost like they were looting the place. Luckily they didn’t spot me, but if anyone returns to their workshops and is missing lab equipment, research data... or a pie, it was probably taken by the president!” He said this last part with a stiff expression and shifty eyes.

Sorana slowly shook her head in amazement, “After all that, you didn’t even hesitate, did you?” she demanded of the holo-screen.

“It doesn’t seem so,” noted Varick from behind the couch.

Sorana jumped in surprise and turned to face the tired looking President, “Varick!” she squealed. “I-I didn’t hear you come in. I was just-”

But the tall Lombax put up a calming hand, before gesturing back to the holo-screen, “I supposed I’ve underestimated him yet again,” he noted, folding his arms and scratching his chin thoughtfully. “I had assumed the day’s events would have driven him to ground for a while, but he appears to have gone on a five-finger shopping spree in the chaos. Even if I retrieved the stolen goods now, thanks to this ‘brilliantly researched’ piece done by the Solar Flare, the conspiracy theories of ‘why the president had possession of them’ will flow incessantly.”

Sorana turned back to the Nova News channel and scowled in disappointment as the interview with Kaden ended and the screen shifted back to the live versions of Dana and Todd.

“Todd, among the damages reported on the 38th floor, the most obvious use of force appears to have been done to one lab in particular,” Dana continued. “The reason is unknown, but it would appear as if the entrance to this lab has been blasted apart with breaching charges.”

Todd’s expression turned more serious, “Is there anything more you can tell us about this lab, Dana?” he asked.

Dana shook her head, “Unfortunately, when our investigative team entered the lab to look for clues, an embedded defense system activated, causing several injuries. The only thing we were able to find out about the facility was the name of its owner.” She then offered a slight smile, “I’m told our team has just sent you the information now, Todd.”

The window of Todd Berita grew larger as the anchorbax pulled up a holo-monitor from his desk before addressing the viewer directly, “Our skilled investigators have discovered that the lab in question is registered to a one ‘Hugh Janus’,” he said aloud and with clear pronunciation. “Typically, we at the Solar Flare would locate this Hugh Janus in the hopes getting to the bottom of this incident.”

In the lower corner of the screen, the small window of Dana’s feed showed her fighting hard to keep her face straight.

Todd continued unaware, “However, according to the student registry, there doesn’t appear to be any Hugh Janus’ here at Nova Academy, so this might be some kind of alias used to cover the real owner’s tracks. However, if you, dear viewers, have any knowledge of a Hugh Janus here at the Mountain, please call the Solar Flare’s information hotline. I, for one, would like to dive deeper into this ‘Hugh Janus’ mystery and find out just how far the rabbit hole goes… Dana?”

The screen then switched back to Dana Tayori’s window, only to find her doubled over with her fist in her mouth. She was biting hard to prevent herself from howling with laughter. At the same time, her image shook as whoever was holding the vid-cam was likely doing something similar.

Back at Todd’s window, he looked confused, but then he turned off screen to the sound of more laughter in his newsroom. Eventually, he turned his attention back to his holo-monitor and reread his notes.

First, his expression went flat, then bright red began to color his skin beneath his fur. His eyes appeared to bulge from his skull and he opened his mouth as if to shout-

But then the screen went blank, with the exception of the ‘Technical Issues’ information banner moving across it.

“That was… odd,” Sorana noted absently. 

Varick nodded, “Yes, but I’ve heard the Solar Flare’s ratings have been rising steadily in recent months.”

“Still,” Sorana continued, “That was a mean trick to pull.”

But Varick just smiled sadly, “Unfortunately, my dear. ‘Mr. Janus’ is one of my sister's many aliases and it is indeed what her lab had been registered under.”

Sorana’s expression didn’t change as she took in this information while turning back to face Varick, “So, about Kaden and… her?” she asked.

The tired president seemed to grow even more tired at the mention of them, but nodded all the same, “Come, let's convene at my table. You’ll probably want to be sitting.”

* * *

Once properly situated with snacks and two warm beverages, one of which was heavily caffeinated, Varick started, “How are you feeling?” he began, with genuine concern. “Is your head alright?”

Sorana took a sip of her drink and blushed slightly, “Yes, I’m fine,” she assured him, knowing that he was talking about her fainting spell. “James informed me that I had, ahem, ‘misinterpreted’ what I saw on your holo-monitor. He also said that my head injury from the fall was nothing more than a light bruise.”

Varick nodded appreciatively, showing no signs of criticism or judgment, “That’s good to hear.”

“It’s just… that was the last thing I expected to see,” Sorana continued to excuse unnecessarily. “I mean I was paranoid about the two of them for days, but Kaden’s never shown any interested in anything like… ‘that’. And, when I thought I saw…” 

Sorana trailed, unwilling to finish her sentence.

“I understand,” Varick assured her, truly understanding from his own jarring experience at the same sight.

There was a short silence after that as Varick waited to see if his guest had anything else she wanted to say on the subject, but Sorana chose to press on, “So, enough about me…”

Varick grimaced slightly at the prospect of what he had to say and took a deep breath, “After taking into account everything I’ve learned so far, and after cross-checking with a few of my other analysts, I’ve concluded that neither Varin nor Kaden are responsible for any heinous misdeeds as a direct result of their recent work together.”

Sorana let out a heavy sigh, “Well, that’s good news,” she noted in relief.

Varick nodded his agreement, but did not look satisfied as he turned his focus to his coffee cup, “However, there were some… ‘other’ complications.”

Sorana raised an eyebrow, she didn’t like the sound of the president’s tone, “Such as?”

Before answering, Varick scratched his chin fur and his ear flicked in thought, “That’s... not an easy answer,” he began slowly. “But, I guess the takeaway is that there does exist, in whatever stretch of the definition it would take, the possibility of a romantic relationship between Kaden and my sister.”

Sorana’s reaction was unreadable. She simply took in the information with a blank expression, before slowly nodding her understanding, “A-alright,” she began quietly. “So, what do we do about it?”

Varick winced slightly, he knew this was coming, but he still wasn’t happy about what he had to do next.

After taking another sip of his drink, the President of the Science Field put down his cup and gave Sorana a purposefully confused look, “What do we ‘do’?” he questioned curiously, before hardening his expression. “Sorana, ‘we’ don’t have a reason to ‘do’ anything. As strange as it sounds, Varin and Kaden aren’t committing any crimes by being together. There are no rules that say they can’t spend time with one another, be it as friends or… more. Therefore, there is no justification for ‘either’ of us to interfere with them.”

Sorana was caught completely off guard by Varick arguing ‘against’ interfering in someone else's life, “But… but, what about all those things you said, about the two of them being a danger to the Academy and anyone else?”

Varick shrugged, “That’s true regardless of their romantic attachment to one another. Either way, I will need to increase surveillance operations on both of them and what they do, but again, there’s no justification for separating them.”

Sorana blinked hard, having trouble processing what she was hearing.

“What about your offer?” the younger Lombax continued, desperately recalling what might be her only hope to get Varick back on her side. “The offer to help me with... with Kaden? Well, this kind of counts. You said that you wanted my help with something in exchange, some kind of special project, right? Well, if you’d just tell me what it was then maybe I’d consider it.”

Varick shook his head, “True, I would still welcome your help on my ‘personal’ project, but there’s something else here you need to consider as well,” he said pointedly. “If Varin and Kaden were to end up ‘together’, that would make Kaden part of the Adjunaris family and I can not easily overlook the benefits of having someone of his skills as a brother-in-law.”

Again, Sorana was caught off guard. Not only was Varick uninterested in helping her, but now, it seemed, that he was actually against her, “I can’t believe that you’d be thinking of your own benefit when it comes to your sister’s love life.”

In actuality, Sorana ‘could’ believe it, easily, but the words just kind of came out.

Varick glared coldly at his guest for a moment, “And what reason do ‘you’ have to meddle, hm?” he countered with a hint of irritation. “After all these years, you don’t even know how you feel about Kaden yourself. Why should you even ‘want’ to prevent something that could make him genuinely happy?”

Sorana immediately rose out of her chair and opened her mouth to protest, but she hesitated when the words didn’t come out. She wanted to make an argument about just being a concerned friend and wanting what was best for Kaden, or how she knew that Varin would only get him into more trouble.

But the truth was, she knew they were lies. She knew this because she had only thought of those excuses ‘after’ she had stood up to argue them and well after she’d wanted to put a stop to any possible relationship between her childhood friend and Varin.

Varick took Sorana’s silence as evidence of her indecision, “My point exactly,” he added conclusively. 

Sorana’s expression fell and she looked down in shame.

But upon seeing this, the president let out a sigh, “Even if I ‘were’ willing to try and separate Varin and Kaden… then what?”

Sorana looked up, dimly hopeful, “What do you mean?” she asked, not sure what he was getting at.

In response, Varick shook his head, “I mean, even if we could prevent the two of them from becoming a ‘thing’, there’s no telling who’ll come along next. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Sorana, but it’s always ‘springtime’ here at Nova, and for good reason too. At this academy, the very best and brightest of our race congregate together just at the pinnacle of their hormonal evolution. I’m sure the idea of Kaden falling in love with someone else is just as foreign to you as the idea of Varin caring about another person is to me, but here we are. If not Varin, there ‘will’ be someone else, no matter how unlikely it seems... Then what?”

Sorana stared at the table blankly before slowly sitting back down. Her chest suddenly hurt. It hurt because she knew that Varick was right. He had been right yesterday about how easy it was to say ‘just friends is fine’ back when she was the only girl Kaden was friends with and he was right that, if not Varin, then someone was going to catch his eye eventually. So what was she to do?

Varick watched the expressions change on the young girl that sat across from him and he felt sympathy for her. He was the president of a full third of the most prestigious Lombax institution of learning in the galaxy, but he still believed that there was nothing more convoluted and hard to keep in order than young love.

Rubbing his tired eyes yet again, Varick continued, “Let’s just say I ‘am’ willing to honor our original deal and help you and Kaden become closer. Before I could even consider it, I would need a much stronger commitment on your part. This, ‘will they won’t they’ stuff was fine up until now, Sorana, but life goes on and we’re already well into the second book. If things don’t make some ‘actual’ progress soon, readers are going to lose interest.”

Sorana had been following Varick’s words closely, right up until the last ones, “Wha- Book? Readers... what?!” she questioned, completely confused as to what he was talking about.

Varick gave her a curious look, “‘Beauty and the Brains: The adventures of Soritha and Kadelith’,” he explained, using a title that immediately sent Sorana’s blood pressure soaring. “Your roommate's book, it’s a best seller in the Art Field. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it. Especially since it's clearly an alternate-universe fanfiction of your life, plus it ships you and Kaden pretty hard.”

Sorana just glared coldly at the table between them, “I’ve heard of it,” she answered.

Varick’s instincts told him that he’d gone off subject to somewhere he didn’t want to be, so he cleared his throat and steered the conversation back, “Ahem, yes, well… in any case, this ‘deal’, should it be forged, would be like any other pact. It would require the total commitment from both parties,” he explained seriously. “I need to know, Sorana, that ‘this’ is what you want above all else.”

Sorana met his gaze at first, holding it sternly for a moment, but then turned hers away sullenly, “I… I don’t know what I want,” she admitted, disappointed in herself more than anything.

Varick looked a little disappointed too, but not surprised, “Well, I do have some time at the moment and we never did get to finish our previous conversation. As an apology for how it ended, I’d be willing to hear you out.”

Sorana eyed the president hesitantly both remembering the vile shower he was referring to and wondering if she even wanted to continue in the first place, but eventually she agreed, “I guess it couldn’t hurt,” she conceded unenthusiastically. 

Unsure of where to start, she just decided at the beginning, “Kaden was my first friend. Well, my first ‘real’ friend, I mean. He was the only other lombax I spent time with as a child that I knew spent time with me because he wanted to and not just for my lineage.”

“Kids are extremely prone to following adults’ behavior, you shouldn’t hold it against them,” Varick noted sympathetically.

“Oh, I don’t,” Sorana stated honestly, knowing the way high society was and the pressures it put on the families in it. “But, that made Kaden special. He was the ‘one’ person I could confide in, not just because I didn’t have to worry about him gossiping it around, but because he genuinely didn’t care about hurting my feelings. It might sound weird, saying that you like that about someone, but I could always trust that whatever he said to me was his true and honest opinion.”

Varick nodded his understanding, “I see. So, when did you realize this ‘special friend’ had simply become ‘special’?” he asked.

Sorana shook her head, “I don’t know,” she admitted. “He’s just been such an important part of my life. Way more than he knows. I’ve always admired his confidence in himself and everything he did, even if it was borderline arrogance. Whenever I felt nervous or afraid of something, I just thought about how Kaden would never hesitate to charge ahead and that gave me courage.”

Sorana then looked up at Varick suddenly, “Did you know that Kaden is afraid of heights?” she asked.

Varick was surprised by the revelation. He would need to double check his notes, but he felt sure that he’d have remembered such an odd piece of information as that, “I... did not,” he answered simply.

Sorana smiled and looked back down at the table, lost in thought again, “You wouldn’t know it by his actions,” she noted, “but it’s true. When he told me that, I asked him why, then, does he fly around the tops of the city stratoscrapers on a flimsy hoverboard. His answer was that when his stomach churns, when his heart races, and when his knees shake in fear, he feels like it's his subconscious telling him what to do... and he ‘hates’ being told what to do.” 

After a pause, Sorana let out a brief laugh.

Varick too, despite himself, smiled at the ridiculousness of the logic.

Still grinning, Sorana shook her head and continued, “That’s just the way he is. Whenever he wants something, he just goes and does it. Nothing can stop him, not the rules, not other people's opinions, not Valmecha’s Peacekeepers… not even his own fear.”

“And that’s what you like about him?” questioned Varick.

Sorana nodded, “I think so. There are lots of other things too, like how he claims to hate everyone and everything, but always ends up caving if you poke and prod him for a favor... but his certainty of himself is probably what attracted me to him the most. I know that sounds weird.”

“Not at all,” Varick began with a knowing look, “I’m sure it sounds weird from your perspective, my dear, but from mine, it’s actually a cliche. Sorana... you clearly have a thing for ‘bad boys’ and Kaden’s easily one of the baddest.”

Sorana’s breath caught so hard in her throat that she choked on it, “W-what?!” she sputtered defensively. “I- *cough* - I do ‘not’ have a thing for… ‘bad boys’!”

Varick shook his head with pity in his eyes, “Oh really? Tell me if this sounds familiar: ‘She was a girl, born to an affluent family. Given everything she ever wanted, except the freedom to choose her own destiny. He was a boy, who played by his own rules, and who nobody could tell what to do.’ Honestly, it sounds so common that it could be the tagline of a straight to holo-disk movie.”

Sorana sat up straight, looking indignant, “I am not a  cliché ,” she countered defiantly. “And first off, Kaden isn’t ‘bad’ per se, he just does bad things... sometimes.”

Varick shook his head again, “You’re mixing up ‘bad boys’ with ‘bad people’,” he pointed out. “The only way your relationship could be any more ‘been done’ is if the two of you rode off into the sunset on his custom hovercycle.”

“I’ll have you know-” Sorana began, but she stopped as she suddenly remembered the times Kaden took her for a ride past the Valmecha city limits on his home-built hoverboard… it had been ‘after’ her curfew.

Varick raised a curious eyebrow as he watched Sorana’s ears wiggle from some sort of pleasant memory before he continued, “Regardless, how high your relationship ranks on the cliche meter is not important,” he pressed. “What ‘is’ important is that, if you’ve felt this way all this time, what’s the reason you’ve never taken things further?”

Sorana eyed Varick for a bit, still annoyed by his oversimplification of her feelings, but decided to move on with a shrug, “He just seemed too intangible, like if I tried to grab hold, he’d just zip off and disappear, leaving me behind. Besides, as you said in our last conversation, there’s never been a reason to want ‘more’. I’ve probably spent more time with Kaden than anyone else who knows him and I was content with that. I didn’t even think ‘more’ was even a possibility… at least until-”

At this, Varick put up a hand, “Now, before we go into any painful details, let me just remind you that I ‘do’ have Kaden and Varin’s activities monitored. I… er, ‘overheard’ Kaden’s bit of backstory about the harmonixium thing.”

Sorana immediately felt embarrassment flush her face, but she held back her reactions, reminding herself that she had just been about to retell the story anyway, if only with a few ‘minor’ adjustments.

When she said nothing, Varick continued instead, “If your behavior after hearing that story is anything to go by, I’m assuming it must have been a side of history that you hadn’t heard before, correct?”

With a deep breath to calm herself, the young Lombax looked up at Varick again, “Y-yes,” she began hesitantly. “It cleared up a rather ‘big’ misunderstanding that I’d had about the dynamic of my relationship with Kaden.”

Varick rubbed his chin, “And now that this misunderstanding has been set straight, you’ve suddenly become aware of certain possibilities?”

Sorana nodded slowly, “It’s true that after hearing Kaden’s side of what happened, I began to think of all kinds of... ‘things’. But, I also realized there were plenty of other, even worse, issues that stood in the way.”

At this, Varick’s eyes lit up knowingly and he tilted his head back, “Ah,” he breathed in understanding. “The Capture the Depot match.”

Sorana tensed with the mention of the event and she gripped her dress tightly at the knees, “Y-yes, that is one ‘fairly big’ reason,” she admitted stressfully. “I never really thought about it before, he just seemed too untouchable to get hurt, but Kaden is always putting himself in danger. The Depot match just made it clear to me what can happen when he goes too far. I can’t imagine what life would be like constantly worrying about whether he’d ever come home or not, or if I’d ever see him again.”

Varick took in Sorana’s concerns and considered them for a bit, “I see, that would be hard,” he began empathetically, but then his posture became stiffer. “However, I don’t mean to diminish your concerns, but if you want to know what that kind of life is like, perhaps you should simply ask any significant other of the Praetorian Guard, or even someone married to a Peacekeeper. Miss Bellit, this planet is home to millions of Lombaxes who face life-threatening occupations and billions more who live with the fear that they might never see their loved ones again. Granted, Kaden’s dangerous lifestyle is a bit unwarranted, but if so many others have found a way to make a life despite this, I see no reason why you can’t either.”

Sorana took a moment to contemplate Varick’s words. It was a strange feeling, getting a new perspective on her issue. Kaden’s risky lifestyle had been her biggest concern, but in the face of all those who live with it on a daily basis, her issues seemed a bit smaller. Plus, Kaden was still young and at ‘that age’. It was quite possible that his adventure lust would calm down as he entered adulthood.

“There’s another thing,” Varick continued as Sorana pondered, “Even ‘if’ you choose not to pursue Kaden romantically, you’re still going to suffer as a result of his actions. You clearly already care about him too much to be unaffected by them. Besides, it’s obvious that this issue isn’t a deal breaker, because, well… here we are.”

Again Sorana had to take a moment to consider Varick’s words. He had a point.

“But, what about my family?” Sorana questioned next.

Varick shrugged, “What about them?” he countered simply. “Despite Kaden’s proclivities, he’s still quite likely to be a major asset in the future. I already told you how much my own family could benefit from his inclusion, and the Adjunaris name is synonymous with the Fastoon justice system, probably the worst combination. I’m sure the Bellits, with their tech. industry ties, would welcome him eagerly.”

“But what if we don’t always agree on everything? I doubt I could win an argument against him,” Sorana pressed. “And what about our kids? Would he make a good father? What if he doesn’t put the cap back on the toothpaste? What if-” but she was cut off when Varick smacked his hand down on the table, not hard, but enough to get her attention.

“Essentially, all of this breaks down to ‘it’s complicated’,” he began sternly. “But, the truth is, Sorana, all romance is complicated. You’re afraid of getting hurt? You’re afraid of hurting him? Do you think that both of you would feel less hurt if you let him go off with Varin instead?”

“What? No!” Sorana declared with intense conviction, but then pulled back a bit, “I mean... I don’t know. Not for sure.”

Varick shook his head in frustration, “The truth is that you ‘don’t’ know. It’s very possible, likely even, that a future with you and Kaden would be fraught with pain and disappointment, but I’d be willing to guess that the only life you’d hate more than one filled with Kaden’s nonsense is one without him at all.”

Sorana was quiet. Internally, she agreed with what Varick was saying, but it just wasn’t that easy to overcome all the fears and concerns she’d been harboring in an instant.

Seeing the hesitation in her expression, Varick relaxed his posture and softened his tone, “Sorana, I know this is hard for you,” he said comfortingly. “But, just for a moment, I want you to forget your social standing. Forget your dreams and ambitions, forget about your family and friends, and forget about whether or not what you’re doing is right. Instead, just imagine yourself twenty years from now, fifty years, even into the next century; after your time at this school is over, after your place in Lombax society is set; when your choices are no longer bound by the ways of the people above you and your ‘future’ is no longer that… Do you want Kaden to be there, with you, for ‘you’, above anyone else, or not?”

Sorana did not respond at first, but only because she was doing as Varick asked. She was looking at her future self as she always wanted to be, strong and confident and in charge of her own life. Revered and valued for her abilities and accomplishments and not her name.

Then she saw Kaden, fully grown and handsome, still a troublemaker in his own right, but tempered by maturity.

It was then that she realized that she couldn’t imagine one without the other. Since the day she’d met him, she had never been able to picture a future that Kaden wasn’t in.

At this, Sorana’s expression became serious and she found her resolve. With a deep breath, she spoke two words, “I do.”

Varick smiled and nodded with satisfaction… and then his hovering, robotic assistant began chiming a common wedding procession melody.

Varick’s eyes widened when he heard the notes and immediately spun around, reaching for his tiny assistant, “Blip, no!” he hissed, before grabbing and shoving the small mechanoid under the table to quiet its chime.

The tiny assistant drone had never been installed with a summary personality sequence, and while it did have emotional analytics that must have gotten worked up from the moment, times like this made Varick suspicious of its real intelligence.

Turning back fearfully, the president found his guest’s face buried in her hands, which were pressed hard against the surface of his table as if she were trying to burrow her way into it. Her ears were bent down across her head and her skin glowed bright red through her pristine white fur. 

Perhaps ‘burrow’ was the wrong word, she was more likely to sear a hole through the table instead.

Varick awkwardly returned to his seat and gave the young woman some time to recover, before finally clearing his throat, “Ahem, yes, well… the good news is that I have already thought of a few strategies we can employ to, um, ‘help’ your situation. One of which I believe we can act on immediately.”

With her face still flush and her ears still bent down, Sorana slowly raised her head and gave the president a curious look, “You’re actually going to help me? After all that?” she questioned suspiciously. “I thought you said you wanted Kaden for the Adjunaris family?”

At this Varick laughed, loud enough to catch Sorana by surprise, as he shook his head vigorously, “Oh, council no! I can barely contain just Varin as it is! Sure, Kaden could possibly be an asset to my family, but I don’t even want to ‘think’ about what it would be like trying to keep a lid on those two. Bonnie and Clyde doesn’t even begin to describe the horror.”

Feeling slightly manipulated, Sorana scowled, but ultimately she was just relieved to have the President of the Science Field back in her corner, “Alright then… tell me about your plans? How are you going to make Kaden interested in ‘me’ when we’re so clearly different?”

Varick nodded his understanding of her concerns, “Well first, I wouldn’t inherently write off your differences as a negative. The term ‘opposites attract’ was coined for a reason. We Lombaxes, as a species, have evolved to be attracted to mates of different abilities with the hopes of combining them into one superior union,” he explained confidently.

Sorana couldn’t help but smile at this, “I guess that’s true,” she noted, more cheerful now.

But then the president’s look became tempered, “However, Kaden is a world-class narcissist and, while I’m sure he would be ‘better’ off with someone who complimented rather than copied him, it’s also likely that the only other person he’d be interested in as much as himself is someone who is practically a mirror image… like Varin.”

Sorana couldn’t help but frown at this, “I… guess that’s true,” she admitted begrudgingly.

“That’s not all,” Varick pressed further. “If Kaden and Varin’s personalities are as similar as they seem, then he is probably just as oblivious, or downright rejecting, of his own feelings as she was. It was way more difficult than it should have been to convince my sister of how she herself felt and I doubt you’re willing to be as direct with Kaden.”

“You did what?” Sorana questioned, in a very confused and slightly angry tone. “You’re telling me that Varin didn’t even know she had feelings for Kaden until you forced her to realize them? Why would you do that? What’s going to happen if she makes a move before I do?!”

Realizing her boldness, the young Lombax blushed again and shrunk in her seat a little.

Varick watched her with interest, before shrugging indifferently, “I wanted to be sure, for one, but honestly... I wouldn’t take it back if I could. Varin has ‘naturally’ grown very close to Kaden and they were getting closer by the day, but I believe that this was only because of how unaware she was of her own intentions. It’s better for us that she’s become conscious of them, rather than if she realized the truth after two of them had become too close.”

Sorana scowled in disbelief at the president, “How could that possibly be true?” she asked irritatedly.

Varick put his hand on his chin and pondered how to answer that.

* * *

Lorna Cross could barely see past the heavy box of test samples that she was carrying through the lab at a painstakingly slow pace. She had made it this far without breaking a single one and she was determined to keep it that way. 

The final hurdle was just up ahead and from her vantage point behind the container, she could glimpse the corner of her work desk. If she could just get the samples onto that table, they'd be relatively safe as she worked on them.

However, just as the elation of a job well done began to prematurely enter her mind, Lorna's foot caught on some kind of belt lying across the floor.

With her leg held fast by the unknown object, the clumsy Lombax stumbled forward, leaving her stranded and trying to balance the heavy load on her one remaining foot. 

She fought desperately to keep herself from swaying too far in one direction while trying to bring her trapped leg back under her, but it refused to budge and neither gravity nor history were on her side. She could already feel herself about to lose what little equilibrium she still had.

Then suddenly, the heavy container in her arms seemed to anchor itself to a point in space. Blinking in confusion, Lorna managed to take advantage of this miracle to free her foot from what she could now see was a research equipment bag laying on the floor. She had gotten caught in its shoulder strap.

With both feet now safely on the ground, the bewildered Lombax took a new firmer grasp of her heavy load and easily pulled it free of its unusual defiance of gravity. 

However, unable to accept the laws of physics being randomly broken, at least on this side of Mt. Supernova, she peeked around to see what had caught it. To her utter surprise and disbelief, she found Varin standing there with a steadying hand still on the sample box.

“V-Varin?” Lorana question in disbelief. “Wha-what are you doing?”

Seeing that Lorna now had a good grip on her burden, Varin took a step back so she could be seen better, “You looked like you were about to drop another box of, what I'm guessing is, expensive lab equipment and/or samples,” she began, “So I grabbed it.”

Lorna nodded slowly, “Yes, I got that, but… 'why' did you do that? Usually, you’d just watch me smash something, laugh in my face about it, and then take it out of my pay?”

Varin shrugged, “I guess… I just didn't feel like tormenting you at the moment.”

Lorna's brow creased in confusion, “Then what do you feel?” she asked, unable to imagine a Varin 'not' wanting to torment someone.

Varin scratched her chin thoughtfully, “I don't know,” she began honestly. “I feel… good, I think. A little warm, but in a nice way.”

A small, nervous smile spread across Lorna's face, more out of amazement than anything, “You, Varin Adjunaris, are in a… 'good mood'? Ha!” she laughed, almost in disbelief, “What possible, horrible suffering could have befallen someone to the point of putting 'you' in a good mood?”

At this, Varin looked Lorna straight in the eye with an unnervingly serious expression, “I think... I ‘like’ someone.”

Lorna's mouth fell open and the box of samples slid from her slackened hands. The heavy case slammed into the floor with a thud, smashing its contents to pieces.

“You like someone?!” she echoed in shock. 

Varin nodded her understanding, “I know… I'm scared too.”

“Are you sure?” the dumbfounded lab assistant pressed. “Maybe you just like to make them suffer a bit more than usual, or-or-or did you accidentally inject yourself with hormones again?” Lorna took a step back and put one arm across her chest and the other out defensively, “Please tell me it's not the hormone thing again.”

But Varin just shook her head, “No, it's not that,” she assured her panicked aide. “I've been in here most of the day. I've checked my vitals three times, ran blood tests, and even took this quiz I found,” she explained as she held up an old and crumpled fashion magazine which looked to have been stolen from a waiting room somewhere.

Varin put the magazine back down and slumped her shoulders in what looked like defeat, “My heart rate is elevated when I think about him, there's also increased levels of dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin in my bloodstream, plus... I scored 235 on the 'love scale'! Someone ripped out the tally page though, so I have no idea what that means… ‘but’ it sounds high.” Varin then straightened her back and looked ahead resolutely, “No, I have to face the truth. It's scientifically proven that I am in love with Kaden.”

“Poor Kaden,” Lorna instantly mumbled reflexively with a shake of her head.

“What was that?” asked Varin, unable to make out the words.

Lorna waved her hand dismissively, “I, uh… I said, 'what are you going to do'?” she answered, thinking quickly.

“Well,” the infatuated Lombax began thoughtfully, “first, I'm going to need that,” she said, pointing to the bag Lorna had nearly tripped on.

Lorna reached down for the bag, ignoring the box full of ruined test samples and then handed it over to Varin, “And what will you do with ‘that’?” she asked curiously.

“I'm going to go over to his room, right now, and tell him how I feel,” she answered flatly, before opening the bag and putting a few recently gathered objects into it.

“Really?” replied Lorna in amazement. “That's pretty bold of you. Most girls I know wouldn't have the nerve to just come right out and say it like that. But, then again, I can ‘actually’ imagine most girls falling in love in the first place.”

Lorana had to admit that she was pretty impressed with how her mad lab head was handling this, but then she noticed what Varin was putting in the bag, “Is that… Is that an injector gun?” she asked before reaching for one of the injector cartridges Varin had packed. “Tranquilizer fluid?” she read off the label, concern now evident in her voice. “What is this for?”

To Lorna’s amazement, Varin actually blushed, and looked away in embarrassment, “Well, it’s my first time, you know? I don’t know how much I can take and I don’t want anything to rip, so this is just in case the male gets too aggressive.”

Lorna’s eyes widened in astonishment, “And this?” she asked next, holding up another vile, this one of orange liquid.

Varin nodded at the vial with a sly grin, “In case he’s not aggressive enough.”

Dropping the vials back into the bag and looking at her boss in disbelief, Lorna shook her head, “Just what in council’s name do you think Kaden's going to-” but she stopped when she noticed an activate holo-monitor nearby. Thinking that she recognized the information, she walked over to it, “Varin, is this my research on Terocklick courtship rituals?”

“Yep,” the young Lombax answered in a disconcertingly proud tone, “I figured all that data you collected could come in handy. I mean, the basics are pretty much the same right?”

Lorna stared at Varin, then turned back to the monitor, then turned back to look at Varin again with a puzzled expression, before turning back to the monitor once more, “What are you going to do?” she demanded as she read a few of the lines the page was open to, “maybe the ‘flaunting your pectorals’ thing might help a bit, but it's not like you can just go over there and give a mating call-”

“Grugulugerlerrrrr,*click,*click,*click,” came the horrifying sound of a female terocklick in heat.

Eyes wide, Lorna turned back around slowly, afraid of what she knew she'd find, until she saw Varin with her lips pressed up to an extremely old-fashioned, terocklick rutting whistle.

The oblivious Lombax then pulled the device from her mouth and nodded at it with satisfaction, “I thought it was weird at first, but the magazine said that guys can get turned on by almost anything, so who am I to judge?” she noted with a casual shrug, before putting the whistle back into her bag and continuing to pack it.

Lorna just stared with her mouth agape. She managed to blink a few times as she tried to process what she'd just witnessed.

Finally, she just shook her head, “There are no words.”

* * *

Varick shook his head again, still unable to find the words to properly explain what he wanted to say.

With a deep sigh, the white-furred Lombax bent forward in a kind of apologetic bow, “In this, Sorana...” he began thoughtfully, “you’ll just have to trust me.”

Sorana grumbled with displeasure, “I guess I really don't have much of a choice now,” she noted unhappily. “So, what do we do?”

Varick leaned back and rubbed his eyes, before yawning, “Well, I don’t know about you, but ‘I’ need to get some sleep.”

Sorana looked surprised, “But, what about Kaden and… Varin?!” she demanded. “They could be-”

But the president put up a hand to stop her, “We can’t rush this, Sorana. It should be something we do after careful planning and I am much too exhausted to do that right now. I have both Kaden and my sister under renewed surveillance and security, so nothing extreme or life-changing will happen in the short term. Let us meet again tomorrow mor-” he paused as he sighted the shining sun through his window. “I mean, later this evening,” he corrected.

“Besides,” Varick continued, “You probably won’t be able to accomplish anything big until your trip this coming vacation period. That is when we’ll make our move.”

Sorana tipped her chin up suspiciously, “How do you know about-” but then she stopped herself. With a shake of her head, she stood up from the table and bowed politely, “Thank you, Mr. President,” she bid, before turning to leave. “Until next time.”

“Uh, one more thing, Miss Bellit,” Varick called after her.

Sorana turned around and eyed the white-furred Lombax curiously.

“I know it’s been made indirectly clear, but I’m someone who prefers things with a bow on them,” he explained, almost apologetically. “I would like to hear your resolve one last time.”

Sorana frowned unhappily, she knew what he was after. Turning back around to face him completely she closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

When she opened them again, she looked straight at Varick and gave him a soft smile, “I’m in love with Kaden.”


End file.
